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Calendar mechanisms

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  • Hinnosaar, Toomas

Abstract

I study the dynamic mechanism design problem of a monopolist selling a fixed number of service slots to randomly arriving, short-lived buyers with heterogeneous values. The fully optimal mechanism is a non-standard auction in which bidders' payoffs are non-monotone in their opponents' bids. Because its complexity may make the fully optimal mechanism too costly to implement, I also study the optimal mechanisms in restricted classes. The most restrictive are pure calendar mechanisms, which allocate service dates instead of contingent contracts. The optimal pure calendar mechanism is characterized by the opportunity costs of service slots and is implementable with a simple mechanism.

Suggested Citation

  • Hinnosaar, Toomas, 2017. "Calendar mechanisms," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 104(C), pages 252-270.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:104:y:2017:i:c:p:252-270
    DOI: 10.1016/j.geb.2017.04.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sano, Ryuji, 2021. "Dynamic slot allocations with different patience levels," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 465-473.
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    3. Dirk Bergemann & Alessandro Pavan, 2015. "Introduction to JET Symposium Issue on "Dynamic Contracts and Mechanism Design"," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2016, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Dynamic mechanism design; Services; Ticket sales; Restricted mechanisms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions

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