IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2506.21740.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Multi-to -one dimensional and semi-discrete screening

Author

Listed:
  • Omar Abdul Halim
  • Brendan Pass

Abstract

We study the monopolist's screening problem with a multi-dimensional distribution of consumers and a one-dimensional space of goods. We establish general conditions under which solutions satisfy a structural condition known as nestedness, which greatly simplifies their analysis and characterization. Under these assumptions, we go on to develop a general method to solve the problem, either in closed form or with relatively simple numerical computations, and illustrate it with examples. These results are established both when the monopolist has access to only a discrete subset of the one-dimensional space of products, as well as when the entire continuum is available. In the former case, we also establish a uniqueness result.

Suggested Citation

  • Omar Abdul Halim & Brendan Pass, 2025. "Multi-to -one dimensional and semi-discrete screening," Papers 2506.21740, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2025.
  • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2506.21740
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2506.21740
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Figalli, Alessio & Kim, Young-Heon & McCann, Robert J., 2011. "When is multidimensional screening a convex program?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 454-478, March.
    2. Alfred Galichon, 2016. "Optimal transport methods in economics," Post-Print hal-03256830, HAL.
    3. Georg Nöldeke & Larry Samuelson, 2018. "The Implementation Duality," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(4), pages 1283-1324, July.
    4. Alfred Galichon, 2016. "Optimal transport methods in economics," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03256830, HAL.
    5. Mussa, Michael & Rosen, Sherwin, 1978. "Monopoly and product quality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 301-317, August.
    6. Carlier, Guillaume & Dupuis, Xavier & Rochet, Jean-Charles & Thanassoulis, John, 2024. "A general solution to the quasi linear screening problem," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    7. Basov, Suren, 2001. "Hamiltonian approach to multi-dimensional screening," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 77-94, September.
    8. Armstrong, Mark, 1996. "Multiproduct Nonlinear Pricing," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(1), pages 51-75, January.
    9. Alfred Galichon, 2016. "Optimal Transport Methods in Economics," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10870.
    10. Carlier, Guillaume, 2001. "A general existence result for the principal-agent problem with adverse selection," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 129-150, February.
    11. J. A. Mirrlees, 1971. "An Exploration in the Theory of Optimum Income Taxation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 175-208.
    12. Jean-Charles Rochet & Philippe Chone, 1998. "Ironing, Sweeping, and Multidimensional Screening," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(4), pages 783-826, July.
    13. Alfred Galichon, 2016. "Optimal transport methods in economics," SciencePo Working papers hal-03256830, HAL.
    14. Eric Maskin & John Riley, 1984. "Monopoly with Incomplete Information," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 15(2), pages 171-196, Summer.
    15. Pass, Brendan, 2012. "Convexity and multi-dimensional screening for spaces with different dimensions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(6), pages 2399-2418.
    16. McAfee, R. Preston & McMillan, John, 1988. "Multidimensional incentive compatibility and mechanism design," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 335-354, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kelvin Shuangjian Zhang, 2019. "Existence in multidimensional screening with general nonlinear preferences," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 67(2), pages 463-485, March.
    2. Pass, Brendan, 2012. "Convexity and multi-dimensional screening for spaces with different dimensions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(6), pages 2399-2418.
    3. Kelvin Shuangjian Zhang, 2017. "Existence in Multidimensional Screening with General Nonlinear Preferences," Papers 1710.08549, arXiv.org, revised Dec 2018.
    4. Carlier, Guillaume & Zhang, Kelvin Shuangjian, 2020. "Existence of solutions to principal–agent problems with adverse selection under minimal assumptions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 64-71.
    5. William Dodds, 2024. "Solving multidimensional screening problems using a generalized single crossing property," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 77(4), pages 1025-1084, June.
    6. X. Ruiz del Portal, 2012. "Conditions for incentive compatibility in models with multidimensional allocation functions and one-dimensional types," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 16(4), pages 311-321, December.
    7. Carlier, Guillaume & Dupuis, Xavier & Rochet, Jean-Charles & Thanassoulis, John, 2024. "A general solution to the quasi linear screening problem," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    8. Pascal Courty & Li Hao, 2000. "Sequential Screening," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 67(4), pages 697-717.
    9. Aloisio Araujo & Sergei Vieira & Braulio Calagua, 2022. "A necessary optimality condition in two-dimensional screening," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 73(2), pages 781-806, April.
    10. Uwe Dulleck & Rudolf Kerschbamer & Alexander Konovalov, 2024. "Too Much or Too Little? Price Discrimination in a Market for Credence Goods," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 180(1), pages 106-143.
    11. Figalli, Alessio & Kim, Young-Heon & McCann, Robert J., 2011. "When is multidimensional screening a convex program?," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 454-478, March.
    12. Robert J. McCann & Kelvin Shuangjian Zhang, 2023. "A duality and free boundary approach to adverse selection," Papers 2301.07660, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    13. Mark Armstrong, 2016. "Nonlinear Pricing," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 8(1), pages 583-614, October.
    14. Itai Arieli & Yakov Babichenko & Fedor Sandomirskiy, 2023. "Feasible Conditional Belief Distributions," Papers 2307.07672, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2024.
    15. Kimmo Berg, 2013. "Complexity of solution structures in nonlinear pricing," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 206(1), pages 23-37, July.
    16. Andersson, Tommy, 2004. "Essays on Nonlinear Pricing and Welfare," MPRA Paper 59446, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Che, Yeon-Koo & Gale, Ian, 2000. "The Optimal Mechanism for Selling to a Budget-Constrained Buyer," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 198-233, June.
    18. Laffont, Jean-Jacques, 2002. "Price discrimination and majority voting," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 76(2), pages 173-178, July.
    19. Bing Jing & Roy Radner, 2004. "Nonconvex Production Technology and Price Discrimination," Working Papers 04-04, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    20. Kimmo Berg & Harri Ehtamo, 2009. "Learning in nonlinear pricing with unknown utility functions," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 172(1), pages 375-392, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2506.21740. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.