Collusion-proof mechanisms for multi-unit procurement

A principal wants to procure multiple homogeneous units from finitely many agents. Each agent has an increasing and convex cost function, whose exact shape is unknown to the principal. Utility is quasilinear in money. We study which mechanisms are strategy-proof and robust to collusion, both when th...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Hagen, Martin
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:CUNEF Universidad
Repositorio:OpenCUNEF
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:open.cunef.edu:20.500.14861/39
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14861/39
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:mechanism design
procurement
collusion
group strategyproofness
reallocation-proofness
Descripción
Sumario:A principal wants to procure multiple homogeneous units from finitely many agents. Each agent has an increasing and convex cost function, whose exact shape is unknown to the principal. Utility is quasilinear in money. We study which mechanisms are strategy-proof and robust to collusion, both when the agents can exchange money and physical units (reallocation-proofness) and when they cannot (group strategy-proofness). To achieve reallocation-proofness, the principal must offer the agents a fixed price per unit. While group-strategy-proof mechanisms can be more complex, they are inefficient and run the risk of procuring no units at all. We characterize the set of group-strategy-proof and anonymous mechanisms with a uniform price. A standout feature is that the number of potential prices is bounded above by the number of agents.