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Robust Mechanism Design and Social Preferences

Author

Listed:
  • Felix Bierbrauer
  • Axel Ockenfels
  • Andreas Pollak
  • Désirée Rückert

Abstract

We study a classic mechanism design problem: How to organize trade between two privately informed parties. We characterize an optimal mechanism under selfish preferences and present experimental evidence that, under such a mechanism, a non-negligible fraction of individuals deviates from the intended behavior. We show that this can be explained by models of social preferences and introduce the notion of a social-preference-robust mechanism. We characterize an optimal mechanism in this class and present experimental evidence that it successfully controls behavior. We finally show that this mechanism is more profitable only if deviations from selfish behavior are sufficiently frequent.

Suggested Citation

  • Felix Bierbrauer & Axel Ockenfels & Andreas Pollak & Désirée Rückert, 2014. "Robust Mechanism Design and Social Preferences," CESifo Working Paper Series 4713, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_4713
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    Cited by:

    1. Dufwenberg, Martin & Kirchsteiger, Georg, 2019. "Modelling kindness," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 167(C), pages 228-234.
    2. Corgnet, Brice & Martin, Ludivine & Ndodjang, Peguy & Sutan, Angela, 2019. "On the merit of equal pay: Performance manipulation and incentive setting," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 23-45.
    3. Bartling, Björn & Netzer, Nick, 2016. "An externality-robust auction: Theory and experimental evidence," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 186-204.
    4. Pierpaolo Battigalli & Martin Dufwenberg, 2022. "Belief-Dependent Motivations and Psychological Game Theory," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 60(3), pages 833-882, September.
    5. Helene Mass & Nicolas Fugger & Vitali Gretschko & Achim Wambach, 2020. "Imitation Perfection—A Simple Rule to Prevent Discrimination in Procurement," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 12(3), pages 189-245, August.
    6. Ernst Fehr & Thomas Epper & Julien Senn, 2023. "The Fundamental Properties, Stability and Predictive Power of Distributional Preferences," CESifo Working Paper Series 10727, CESifo.
    7. Jang, Dooseok & Patel, Amrish & Dufwenberg, Martin, 2018. "Agreements with reciprocity: Co-financing and MOUs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 85-99.
    8. Tobias Widmer & Paul Karaenke & Vijayan Sugumaran, 2021. "Two‐sided service markets: Effects of quality differentiation on market efficiency," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 42(3), pages 588-604, April.
    9. Yan Chen & Peter Cramton & John A. List & Axel Ockenfels, 2021. "Market Design, Human Behavior, and Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(9), pages 5317-5348, September.
    10. Boaz Zik, 2021. "Ex-post implementation with social preferences," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(3), pages 467-485, April.
    11. Daske, Thomas, 2021. "The Incentive Costs of Welfare Judgments," EconStor Preprints 230318, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. Daske, Thomas, 2019. "Efficient Incentives in Social Networks: "Gamification" and the Coase Theorem," EconStor Preprints 193148, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    13. Hoffmann, Timo & Renes, Sander, 2016. "Flip a coin or vote : an Experiment on choosing group decision," Working Papers 16-11, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    14. Daske, Thomas, 2017. "Externality Assessments, Welfare Judgments, and Mechanism Design," EconStor Preprints 172494, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    15. Mark T. Le Quement & Amrish Patel, 2018. "Communication as Gift-Exchange," University of East Anglia School of Economics Working Paper Series 2018-06, School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK..
    16. Mill, Wladislaw & Morgan, John, 2022. "Competition between friends and foes," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    17. Carlos Alós-Ferrera & Salvador Barberà & Danilo Coelho & Matias Nunez, 2025. "Fairness vs. Simplicity in Appointment Rules," Working Papers 1490, Barcelona School of Economics.
    18. Koch, Melanie & Menkhoff, Lukas & Schmidt, Ulrich, 2021. "Coupled lotteries—A new method to analyze inequality aversion," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 236-256.

    More about this item

    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D03 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Behavioral Microeconomics: Underlying Principles
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design

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