my housemates each earn somewhere around ten times what I do. Under this system, my bids would always be lowest and I would do all the chores without exception.
I believe you are wrong. (Or I am; in which case please explain to me how.) Here is what I would do it if I lived with a bunch of millionaires, assuming my money is limited:
The first time, I would ask a realistic price X. And I would do the chores. I would put the gained money apart into “the money I don’t really own, because I will use them in future to get my status back” budget.
The second time, I would ask 1.5 × X. The third time, 2 × X. The fourth time, 3 × X. If asked, I would explain the change by saying: “I guess I was totally miscalibrated about how I value my time. Well, I’m learning. Sorry, this bidding system is so new and confusing to me.” But I would act like I am not really required to explain anything.
Let’s assume I always do the chores. Then my income grows exponentially, which is a nice thing per se, but most importantly, it cannot continue forever. At some moment, my bid would be so insanely high, that even Bill Gates would volunteer to do the chores instead. -- Which is completely okay for me, because I would pay him the $1000000000 per hour from my “get the status back” budget, which at the given time already contains the money.
That’s it. Keep your money from chores in a separate budget and use them only to pay others for doing the chores. Increase or decrease the bids depending on the state of that budget. If the price becomes relatively stable, there is no way you would do more chores than the other people around you.
The only imbalance I can imagine is if you have a housemate A which always bids more than a housemate B, in which case you will end up between them, always doing more chores than A but less than B. Assuming there are 10 A’s and 1 B, and the B is considered very low status, this might result in a rather low status for you, too. -- The system merely guarantees you won’t get the lowest status, even if you are the less wealthy person in the house; but you can still get the second-lowest place.
I believe you are wrong. (Or I am; in which case please explain to me how.) Here is what I would do it if I lived with a bunch of millionaires, assuming my money is limited:
The first time, I would ask a realistic price X. And I would do the chores. I would put the gained money apart into “the money I don’t really own, because I will use them in future to get my status back” budget.
The second time, I would ask 1.5 × X. The third time, 2 × X. The fourth time, 3 × X. If asked, I would explain the change by saying: “I guess I was totally miscalibrated about how I value my time. Well, I’m learning. Sorry, this bidding system is so new and confusing to me.” But I would act like I am not really required to explain anything.
Let’s assume I always do the chores. Then my income grows exponentially, which is a nice thing per se, but most importantly, it cannot continue forever. At some moment, my bid would be so insanely high, that even Bill Gates would volunteer to do the chores instead. -- Which is completely okay for me, because I would pay him the $1000000000 per hour from my “get the status back” budget, which at the given time already contains the money.
That’s it. Keep your money from chores in a separate budget and use them only to pay others for doing the chores. Increase or decrease the bids depending on the state of that budget. If the price becomes relatively stable, there is no way you would do more chores than the other people around you.
The only imbalance I can imagine is if you have a housemate A which always bids more than a housemate B, in which case you will end up between them, always doing more chores than A but less than B. Assuming there are 10 A’s and 1 B, and the B is considered very low status, this might result in a rather low status for you, too. -- The system merely guarantees you won’t get the lowest status, even if you are the less wealthy person in the house; but you can still get the second-lowest place.