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Prior-free online mechanisms for queueing with arrivals

Author

Listed:
  • Sambuddha Ghosh

    (Shanghai University of Finance and Economics)

  • Yan Long

    (Huazhong University of Science and Technology)

  • Manipushpak Mitra

    (Indian Statistical Institute)

Abstract

Agents from a finite population arrive at various discrete times, and exit after they use a server for one period each. Each agent has a per-period cost of queueing, which constitutes his private information. Among direct mechanisms that are prior-free, i.e. independent of distributions of arrivals and costs, and online, i.e. charge only those present in the system, we characterize the class of dynamically strategy-proof mechanisms with least total waiting cost. The budget is balanced eventually under a mild condition on the arrival sequence, while a canonical mechanism that achieves budget balance in each period is also characterized under a stronger condition.

Suggested Citation

  • Sambuddha Ghosh & Yan Long & Manipushpak Mitra, 2021. "Prior-free online mechanisms for queueing with arrivals," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 72(2), pages 671-700, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:72:y:2021:i:2:d:10.1007_s00199-020-01308-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-020-01308-7
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Queueing with arrivals; Prior-free mechanism design; Online mechanism design; online VCG mechanism; Dynamically strategy-proof; Budget balance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C44 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Operations Research; Statistical Decision Theory
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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