Word.ws English Dictionary

dollar auction

dollar auction noun: a non-zero-sum sequential game designed to illustrate a paradox brought about by traditional rational-choice theory in which players are compelled to make an ultimately irrational decision based entirely on a sequence of apparently rational choices made throughout the game. It involves an auction for a dollar bill where the second-highest bidder loses the amount that they bid, making them the biggest loser in the auction.

Noun

dollar auction (plural dollar auctions)

  1. A non-zero-sum sequential game designed to illustrate a paradox brought about by traditional rational-choice theory in which players are compelled to make an ultimately irrational decision based entirely on a sequence of apparently rational choices made throughout the game. It involves an auction for a dollar bill where the second-highest bidder loses the amount that they bid, making them the biggest loser in the auction.
    • Among the most terrifying of all dollar auctions followed World War II, when the United States and the Soviet Union entered into an arms race to produce more sophisticated and destructive weapons.2012, Robert Dodge, Schelling's Game Theory: How to Make Decisions, page 117

Forms of dollar auction

pluraldollar auctions

Questions about dollar auction

What does dollar auction mean?
Dollar auction means a non-zero-sum sequential game designed to illustrate a paradox brought about by traditional rational-choice theory in which players are compelled to make an ultimately irrational decision based entirely on a sequence of apparently rational choices made throughout the game. It involves an auction for a dollar bill where the second-highest bidder loses the amount that they bid, making them the biggest loser in the auction.
What part of speech is dollar auction?
Dollar auction is a noun.
What is the plural of dollar auction?
The plural of dollar auction is dollar auctions.

Words near dollar auction in the dictionary

  1. doll-like
  2. dolla
  3. dolla'
  4. dollah
  5. dollar
  6. dollar auction
  7. dollar auctions
  8. dollar bean
  9. dollar beans
  10. dollar bill
  11. dollar bills

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: dollar auction (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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