Economics Challenge Series 2025 Results – Challenge 5: Auction

4 days ago (Edited)

Hi Everyone,

It is time to reveal the results for the 2025 Economics Challenge Series. All six challenges have been posted. Below are the links to these challenges.

The challenge series has become an annual event held in July and August. The challenge series normally consists of seven challenges. This year because of some time constraints, it has been reduced to just 6.

The purpose of the challenge series is to enable participants to use their knowledge of basic economic concepts to help them to win. Concepts include demand and supply, game theory, expected value, and location theory.

The challenge series is set up to reward participation. The first 15 participants are upvoted, and the prize increases by 4 Hive Power with each participant until a maximum of 60 Hive Power is reached. There is also a prize for the overall winner. This prize increases by 1 Hive Power and can reach a maximum of 80 Hive Power. Potentially, a lot of Hive Power could be given away.

You can read about the challenge series in any of the challenge posts.

Results

Welcome to the results post for the Auction Challenge. This post contains the results as well as how they were generated using a Microsoft Excel model.

Winner determined in this Video

▶️ Watch on 3Speak

What is the Auction Challenge?

The auction contest allows participants to bid on up to 5 of 12 items in an auction. The participant who bids the highest wins the item. Each item has a value. However, the values are not stated in the question. Instead, a range of values are stated. These values are generated using the Excel model shown in the video in this post. Participants should aim to win the items without bidding over their values. For example, if an item is valued at $80 and the winning bid is $60, the participant gains $20. The gains and losses made by each participant from their winning bids is summated. The participant who has gained the highest value is the winner. If two participants obtain the same value, the participant who entered first wins.

The format of the required entry is explained in detail in the challenge itself.

For a more detailed explanation, you can access the challenge post using the following link.

Results of the Auction Challenge

Table 1 contains the bids made by all participants and the winners of each auctioned item.

Table 1: Bids and Winners of Auctions

Note: Green highlighted boxes indicate winning bids, and red highlighted boxes indicate bids after the bid limit has been reached.

Of the 15 participants who entered, 7 won at least one auctioned item. @longannisan and @tortangkahoy won 3 items each, @micheal87 won 2 items, and @lee1938, @tht, @bereal47, and @hatdogsensei won 1 item each. Winning more items does not necessarily equate to obtaining the highest gain in value. The gains in value made per item won is critical in determining the overall winner.

Table 2 contains the values of each item (generated by the model) and the gains in value each participant made on their winning bids. Table 3 contains the overall gains in value made by each participant.

Table 2: Value of Items and Gains Made from Each Item

Table 3: Overall Gain in Value Made by Participants

Only one participant managed to achieve a positive value and that was @micheal87. @micheal87 achieved a positive value of 67. He obtained 34 from winning the first item and 33 from winning the fourth item.

Since a second and third place cannot be determined, the full 60 Hive power goes to @micheal87. @micheal87 also obtains 40 points from this challenge. No other will be given out.

Overall Series Score

After five challenges, the overall scores for the Challenge Series are as follows:

Position	Participants	Points
1	Micheal87	80
2	Goshen	40
3	Tortangkahoy	30
4	Temple93	30
5	Urrirru	20
6	Emeka4	15
7	Bereal47	15
8	Hatdogsensei	15
9	Lee1938	5

This table will be updated in every results post.

Challenge Tips and Analysis

This challenge relies mostly on luck, but there are some strategies that can increase your chances of winning. Here are a few.

Look for items with a limited number of bids. You can be the last bidder for that item and know you will not be beaten.
Look for items that have the highest bids below the average (expected value). For example, if an item has a minimum of 50 and a maximum of 150, the expected value is 100. If the highest bid is below 100, it is worth bidding on.
Look for items with a large range. These items have the best chances of scoring big gains. However, they are also the riskiest. This matters less when there are a large number of participants.
Entering late provides the best chance of winning auctions, but if there are many participants, there may not be any items worth bidding on. It is worth checking back in on the contest to monitor the number of entries and the items that still look worth bidding on.

The Sapien Loop Series

I am writing a trilogy of books titled Sapien Loop. The first in the series is Sapien Loop: End of an Era and the second is Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time. I published both of these books as ebooks on Amazon, and I have posted completed chapters to my @captainhive account. I anticipate publishing the third book in early 2027. I expect to title this book Sapien Loop: Worlds Collide. In 2025, I plan to write short stories about some of the characters and their adventures. I will post these to my @captainhive over the course of the year.

Brief Summary of Sapien Loop: End of an Era

This story is based on the fictional planet Sapia and its sole country, Sapey. Sapey is portrayed as a form of utopia for all its citizens. No poverty. No war. Almost no crime. Opportunities for all.

This was enough for most citizens, but not all. In one of the small regions, some of the citizens had become discontent. They felt something important was missing in their lives. Their discontent did not go unnoticed. Some of the Sapey elite wanted to weaponise this discontent to gain more power. This created more chaos than they anticipated. This led to further widespread social unrest.

On top of the chaos, ambition and greed provoked another enemy. This enemy was on a mission to settle both new and old scores.

Brief Summary of Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time

This story is based six years after the original story. The Downs Region is still suffering from a serious health crisis caused by the contaminated water. The main characters are desperately trying to find a cure for the illness that has been caused by the water.

One of the main characters has discovered frozen humanoids in hidden chambers. It appears they have been frozen for a long time. These chambers connect to a vast network of tunnels. While exploring the tunnels, one of the frozen humanoids disappears. It appears he has been stolen.

The story takes a step back in time to tell the story of the frozen humanoids. How and why were they frozen? This part of the story also explains the fall of ancient Sapey and the birth of the Sapiens. Can those from the past be able to coexist with those from the present?