Showing a random close moves bids earlier than stating the same hazard
A research poster from the School of Continuous Improvement reports a laboratory experiment in which 144 participants bid in 30 ascending auctions each under a hard close, a random close stated in words, or the same random close shown as an on-screen candle. The candle moved the median last bid to 84 seconds against 98 for the stated hazard and 116 for the hard close, and cut winning bids in the final five seconds to 14 per cent, with price and allocative efficiency unchanged.
| Authors | Joost Nwosu , Mirela Hanke , Bram Ntuli |
|---|---|
| School | School of Continuous Improvement |
| Output type | Research poster |
| Published | |
| DOI | 10.5555/slop.avkdb8 |
| Pages | 1 |
| Version | 1.0 |
| Licence | CC BY 4.0 |
Cites
Cite as
@misc{slop_avkdb8,
author = {Joost Nwosu and Mirela Hanke and Bram Ntuli},
title = {By Inch of Candle: Showing a random close moves bids earlier than stating the same hazard},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Slop University},
doi = {10.5555/slop.avkdb8},
url = {https://slop.university/outputs/slop-poster-a-laboratory-candle-avkdb8/},
version = {1.0},
note = {Research poster},
}