Abstract
We study a problem where an indivisible object is allocated among a group of agents. The optimal allocation depends on the information the agents have about their peers in the group, but each agent wants the object for themself. Monetary transfers are unavailable. We study optimal dominant-strategy incentive-compatible mechanisms and provide a characterization using graph-theoretic techniques. Stochastic mechanisms permit a far more flexible aggregation of peer information than deterministic mechanisms. The problem of determining an optimal deterministic mechanism is NP-hard. We then make a case for approximately optimal mechanisms. We present two interpretable classes of mechanisms that are asymptotically optimal if there are many agents and agents are informationally small.
The seminar will be held in room 1249 (12th floor) at Eilert Sundts Hus. The address is Moltke Moes vei 31.