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Full surplus extraction from samples

Author

Listed:
  • Fu, Hu
  • Haghpanah, Nima
  • Hartline, Jason
  • Kleinberg, Robert

Abstract

We study whether an auctioneer who has only partial knowledge of the distribution of buyers' valuations can extract the full surplus. There is a finite number of possible distributions, and the auctioneer has access to a finite number of samples (independent draws) from the true distribution. Full surplus extraction is possible if the number of samples is at least the difference between the number of distributions and the dimension of the linear space they span, plus one. This bound is tight. The mechanism that extracts the full surplus uses the samples to construct contingent payments, and not for statistical inference.

Suggested Citation

  • Fu, Hu & Haghpanah, Nima & Hartline, Jason & Kleinberg, Robert, 2021. "Full surplus extraction from samples," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:193:y:2021:i:c:s0022053121000478
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2021.105230
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Jerry Anunrojwong & Santiago R. Balseiro & Omar Besbes, 2023. "Robust Auction Design with Support Information," Papers 2305.09065, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    2. Jerry Anunrojwong & Santiago R. Balseiro & Omar Besbes, 2022. "On the Robustness of Second-Price Auctions in Prior-Independent Mechanism Design," Papers 2204.10478, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auction design; Unknown distributions; Samples;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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