This paper considers bidding environments with pure common values, in which bidders are not equally well informed. We construct the optimal selling mechanism and ask how bidder asymmetry affects the seller's expected payoff. With an optimal mechanism, the seller benefits from bidder asymmetry:...

We construct the optimal selling mechanism in a pure common value environment with two bidders that are not equally well informed. With an optimal mechanism, the seller benefits from bidder asymmetry: her expected revenue increases if the bidder asymmetry increases