Clients might not want their agents to reveal their private valuations to an external auctioneer as that information can be exploited.
The auctioneer could thus ask for a higher price than the second highest bid (just below the highest bid) from the highest bidder.
In such an economy, no trades take place until the auctioneer derives an equilibrium price.
However, he considers an example of how an auctioneer creates a "temporary formula" by repeating a phrase (p. 62).
In this economy, nominal wage and price decisions are taken not by an auctioneer but by economic agents.
This result holds even when the market is regulated by the supreme hand of the auctioneer.
There is no need for a central auctioneer.
Thus, the auctioneer can only determine the order of bids and allocate the second highest bid to the winner.
