Envy freedom and prior-free mechanism design

Nikhil R. Devanur, Jason D. Hartline and Qiqi Yan

Journal of Economic Theory, 2015, vol. 156, issue C, 103-143

Abstract: We consider the provision of an abstract service to single-dimensional agents. Our model includes position auctions, single-minded combinatorial auctions, and constrained matching markets. When the agents' values are drawn independently from a distribution, the Bayesian optimal mechanism is given by Myerson [1] as a virtual-surplus optimizer. We develop a framework for prior-free mechanism design and analysis. A good mechanism in our framework approximates the optimal mechanism for the distribution if there is a distribution; moreover, when there is no distribution this mechanism still provably performs well.

Keywords: Envy freedom; Incentive compatibility; Myerson; Prior-free; Mechanism design (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C7 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:156:y:2015:i:c:p:103-143

DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2014.08.001

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