English
Related papers

Related papers: Strong Duality for a Multiple-Good Monopolist

200 papers

We study the identification and estimation of a multidimensional screening model, where a monopolist sells a multi-attribute product to consumers with private information about their multidimensional preferences. Under optimal screening,…

General Economics · Economics 2024-10-18 Gaurab Aryal , Federico Zincenko

We consider the revenue maximization problem of a monopolist via a non-Myersonian approach that could generalize to multiple items and multiple buyers. Although such an approach does not lead to any closed-form solution of the problem, it…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-11-30 Song Zuo

This paper studies the uniqueness of solutions to the dual optimal transport problem, both qualitatively and quantitatively (bounds on the diameter of the set of optimisers). On the qualitative side, we prove that when one marginal…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-03 William Ford

We study revenue maximization in multi-item auctions, where bidders have subadditive valuations over independent items. Providing a simple mechanism that is approximately revenue-optimal in this setting is a major open problem in mechanism…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-10-13 Yang Cai , Ziyun Chen , Jinzhao Wu

We revisit the problem of designing the profit-maximizing single-item auction, solved by Myerson in his seminal paper for the case in which bidder valuations are independently distributed. We focus on general joint distributions, seeking…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-05-15 Christos Papadimitriou , George Pierrakos

A buyer wishes to purchase a durable good from a seller who in each period chooses a mechanism under limited commitment. The buyer's valuation is binary and fully persistent. We show that posted prices implement all equilibrium outcomes of…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2021-06-01 Laura Doval , Vasiliki Skreta

Selling a single item to $n$ self-interested buyers is a fundamental problem in economics, where the two objectives typically considered are welfare maximization and revenue maximization. Since the optimal mechanisms are often impractical…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-11-06 Billy Jin , Thomas Kesselheim , Will Ma , Sahil Singla

We study gains from trade in multi-dimensional two-sided markets. Specifically, we focus on a setting with $n$ heterogeneous items, where each item is owned by a different seller $i$, and there is a constrained-additive buyer with…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-03-15 Yang Cai , Kira Goldner , Steven Ma , Mingfei Zhao

We study buyer-optimal procurement mechanisms when quality is contractible. When some costs are borne by every participant of a procurement auction regardless of winning, the classic analysis should be amended. We show that an optimal…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-11-20 Pasha Andreyanov , Ilia Krasikov , Alex Suzdaltsev

We study balanced exchange problems in which agents with responsive preferences are endowed with multiple indivisible objects and can trade without transfers (e.g. shift exchange, time-banking). Eliciting full preferences over bundles is…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-04-14 Vikram Manjunath , Alexander Westkamp

Classical optimal auction theory assumes that bids reach the seller directly. We study how this picture changes when a revenue-maximizing intermediary controls access to the seller's auction. Motivated by blockchain auctions, online…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-05-22 Jingyi Liu , Aviad Rubinstein , Ertem Nusret Tas , S. Matthew Weinberg , Qianfan Zhang

We consider the problem of revenue-optimal dynamic mechanism design in settings where agents' types evolve over time as a function of their (both public and private) experience with items that are auctioned repeatedly over an infinite…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2010-10-18 Sham M. Kakade , Ilan Lobel , Hamid Nazerzadeh

We study a repeated trading problem in which a mechanism designer facilitates trade between a single seller and multiple buyers. Our model generalizes the classic bilateral trade setting to a multi-buyer environment. Specifically, the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-03-04 Anna Lunghi , Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi

In a seminal paper, McAfee (1992) presented a truthful mechanism for double auctions, attaining asymptotically-optimal gain-from-trade without any prior information on the valuations of the traders. McAfee's mechanism handles…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-12-20 Erel Segal-Halevi , Avinatan Hassidim , Yonatan Aumann

This paper studies optimal auction design when valuations depend endogenously on post-auction collaboration between the seller and the winning bidder. Both parties exert non-contractible efforts after the auction, generating a double moral…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-04-21 Dazhong Wang , Ruqu Wang , Xinyi Xu

We consider a mechanism design setting with a single item and a single buyer who is uncertain about the value of the item. Both the buyer and the seller have a common model for the buyer's value, but the buyer discovers her true value only…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-07-08 Saeed Alaei , Shuchi Chawla , Zhiyi Huang , Ali Makhdoumi , Azarakhsh Malekian

I consider the monopolistic pricing of informational good. A buyer's willingness to pay for information is from inferring the unknown payoffs of actions in decision making. A monopolistic seller and the buyer each observes a private signal…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2018-10-18 Weijie Zhong

We consider a seller who offers services to a buyer with multi-unit demand. Prior to the realization of demand, the buyer receives a noisy signal of their future demand, and the seller can design contracts based on the reported value of…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-02-13 Dirk Bergemann , Michael C. Wang

Mechanism design is addressed in the context of fair allocations of indivisible goods with monetary compensation. Motivated by a real-world social choice problem, mechanisms with verification are considered in a setting where (i) agents'…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-09-18 Gianluigi Greco , Francesco Scarcello

Personalized pricing is a business strategy to charge different prices to individual consumers based on their characteristics and behaviors. It has become common practice in many industries nowadays due to the availability of a growing…

Computers and Society · Computer Science 2022-02-22 Renzhe Xu , Xingxuan Zhang , Peng Cui , Bo Li , Zheyan Shen , Jiazheng Xu