You mean as a group they would have gotten the exact same amount of money as they in fact did.
No, that’s not what he means. From the Freakonomics blog post:
If two or more students bid the same thing, the difference between $20 and their joint bid will be divided among the winning bidders.
So as a group, if seven people bid $0.01, they split $19.93, whereas if under JamesAndrix’s scheme, they’d net $19.99.
No, that’s not what he means. From the Freakonomics blog post:
So as a group, if seven people bid $0.01, they split $19.93, whereas if under JamesAndrix’s scheme, they’d net $19.99.