Presentation � AIRG � Parkes, Approximate & Truthful VCG

Greg Detre

@12:00 Tuesday, October 08, 2002

based on his discussions about electronic markets at Dag Stuhl

 

Goal: tractable, truthful, one-shot VCG-based mechanism

with no assumptions about preferences

(except private values, free-disposal, no externalities)

 

VCG = Vicary-Clarke-Groves

it�s an economic mechanism

2nd price auction

 

first price auction - sell to highest bidder, make them pay your bid price, so you shave down your bid price

2nd price auction - one-shot, i.e. everyone bids at the same time, select highest bidder, but for the second highest bid price

strategy-proof

you can prove a failure of strategy-proofness if you can show that, given the other agents� preferences etc., you�re better off mis-stating your own

dominant strategy is to truthfully reveal your value (neither too low nor too high)