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Mechanism design for unequal societies

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  • Groh, Carl-Christian
  • Reuter, Marco

Abstract

We study optimal mechanisms for a utilitarian designer who seeks to assign a finite number of goods to a group of ex ante heterogeneous agents with unit demand. The agents have heterogeneous marginal utilities of money, which may naturally arise in environments where agents have different wealth levels or financing conditions. We show that the utilitarian optimal allocation rule deviates from the ex post efficient allocation rule in two ways, namely by (1) allocating the good to agents with lower willingnesses to pay in certain situations and (2) by potentially keeping some units of the good unallocated. We also highlight how our mechanism can be implemented as an auction with minimum bids and bidding subsidies.

Suggested Citation

  • Groh, Carl-Christian & Reuter, Marco, 2023. "Mechanism design for unequal societies," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-050, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:zewdip:280984
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    optimal mechanism design; redistribution; inequality; auctions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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