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Characterization of incentive compatible single-parameter mechanisms revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Krzysztof R. Apt

    (University of Warsaw)

  • Jan Heering

    (CWI Amsterdam)

Abstract

We reexamine the characterization of incentive compatible single-parameter mechanisms introduced in Archer and Tardos (2001). We argue that the claimed uniqueness result, called 'Myerson's Lemma' was not well established. We provide an elementary proof of uniqueness that unifies the presentation for two classes of allocation functions used in the literature and show that the general case is a consequence of a little known result from the theory of real functions. We also clarify that our proof of uniqueness is more elementary than the previous one. Finally, by generalizing our characterization result to more dimensions, we provide alternative proofs of revenue equivalence results for multiunit auctions and combinatorial auctions.

Suggested Citation

  • Krzysztof R. Apt & Jan Heering, 2022. "Characterization of incentive compatible single-parameter mechanisms revisited," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 7(1), pages 113-129, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:jmi:articl:jmi-v7i1a4
    DOI: 10.22574/jmid.2022.12.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Incentive compatibility; single-parameter mechanisms; Myerson's lemma; auctions; revenue equivalence.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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