IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/trf/wpaper/254.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Subsidies, Knapsack Auctions and Dantzig’s Greedy Heuristic

Author

Listed:
  • Ensthaler, Ludwig
  • Giebe, Thomas

Abstract

A budget-constrained buyer wants to purchase items from a shortlisted set. Items are differentiated by quality and sellers have private reserve prices for their items. Sellers quote prices strategically, inducing a knapsack game. The buyer’s problem is to select a subset of maximal quality. We propose a buying mechanism which can be viewed as a game theoretic extension of Dantzig’s greedy heuristic for the classic knapsack problem. We use Monte Carlo simulations to analyse the performance of our mechanism. Finally, we discuss how the mechanism can be applied to award R&D subsidies.

Suggested Citation

  • Ensthaler, Ludwig & Giebe, Thomas, 2009. "Subsidies, Knapsack Auctions and Dantzig’s Greedy Heuristic," Discussion Paper Series of SFB/TR 15 Governance and the Efficiency of Economic Systems 254, Free University of Berlin, Humboldt University of Berlin, University of Bonn, University of Mannheim, University of Munich.
    • Handle: RePEc:trf:wpaper:254
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/13298/1/254.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Giebe, Thomas & Grebe, Tim & Wolfstetter, Elmar, 2006. "How to allocate R&D (and other) subsidies: An experimentally tested policy recommendation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1261-1272, November.
    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. Jürgen Janger & Michael Böheim & Martin Falk & Rahel Falk & Werner Hölzl & Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig & Michael Peneder & Andreas Reinstaller & Fabian Unterlass & Gunther Tichy, 2010. "Research and Innovation Policy after the Crisis," Austrian Economic Quarterly, WIFO, vol. 15(4), pages 321-335, December.
    2. Ugonna, Dr Charity Udodirim & Ochieng, Prof Edward G. & Zuofa, Dr Tarila, 2021. "Augmenting the delivery of public research and development projects in developing countries," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 169(C).
    3. Ozer, Muammer, 2007. "Reducing the demand uncertainties at the fuzzy-front-end of developing new online services," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(9), pages 1372-1387, November.
    4. Acconcia Antonio & Beraldo Sergio & Capuano Carlo & Stimolo Marco, 2023. "Public Subsidies and Cooperation in Research and Development. Evidence from the LAB," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 23(3), pages 727-760, July.
    5. Carlos José Miranda Victório & Helder Gomes Costa & Cristina Gomes de Souza, 2016. "Modeling selection criteria of R&D projects for awarding direct subsidies to the private sector," Science and Public Policy, Oxford University Press, vol. 43(2), pages 275-287.
    6. Giebe, Thomas & Grebe, Tim & Wolfstetter, Elmar, 2006. "How to allocate R&D (and other) subsidies: An experimentally tested policy recommendation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1261-1272, November.
    7. Christa Hainz & Hendrik Hakenes, 2007. "The Politician and his Banker," CESifo Working Paper Series 2153, CESifo.
    8. Hainz, Christa & Hakenes, Hendrik, 2012. "The politician and his banker — How to efficiently grant state aid," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 218-225.
    9. Martha Torres-Barreto & Marianela Luzardo Briceño & Mileidy Alvarez-Melgarejo, 2018. "The R&D funding scenario: Can capabilities foster product innovation of firms? El escenario de financiación de I + D: ¿pueden las capacidades fomentar la innovación de productos de las empresas? [E," Working Papers hal-01867121, HAL.
    10. Donja Darai & Jens Grosser & Nadja Trhal, 2009. "Patents versus Subsidies � A Laboratory Experiment," SOI - Working Papers 0905, Socioeconomic Institute - University of Zurich.
    11. Torres, Miguel Matos & Clegg, L. Jeremy & Varum, Celeste Amorim, 2016. "The missing link between awareness and use in the uptake of pro-internationalization incentives," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 495-510.
    12. repec:zbw:rwirep:0332 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Concepta McManus & Abilio Afonso Baeta Neves, 2021. "Funding research in Brazil," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 801-823, January.
    14. Bannò, Mariasole & Sgobbi, Francesca, 2010. "Firm participation in financial incentive programmes: The case of subsidies for outward internationalisation," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 792-803, November.
    15. Ensthaler, Ludwig & Giebe, Thomas, 2014. "A dynamic auction for multi-object procurement under a hard budget constraint," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 179-189.
    16. Krzysztof Rutkiewicz, 2015. "State aid for research, development and innovation in the European Union competition policy," Ekonomia i Prawo, Uniwersytet Mikolaja Kopernika, vol. 14(1), pages 19-32, March.
    17. J Kim Swales, 2010. "The Relative Efficiency of Automatic and Discretionary Regional Aid," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(2), pages 434-451, February.
    18. Yang, Zhenbing & Shao, Shuai & Li, Chengyu & Yang, Lili, 2020. "Alleviating the misallocation of R&D inputs in China's manufacturing sector: From the perspectives of factor-biased technological innovation and substitution elasticity," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    19. Shanker A. Singham & U. Srinivasa Rangan, 2018. "Anti‐Competitive Market Distortions: A Typology," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(3), pages 339-347, October.
    20. Yu, Feifei & Du, Hongyan & Li, Xiaotong & Cao, Jiayu, 2023. "Enterprise digitalization, business strategy and subsidy allocation: Evidence of the signaling effect," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    21. Jürgen Janger & Michael Böheim & Martin Falk & Rahel Falk & Werner Hölzl & Daniela Kletzan-Slamanig & Michael Peneder & Andreas Reinstaller & Fabian Unterlass, 2010. "Forschungs- und Innovationspolitik nach der Krise. WIFO-Positionspapier zur FTI-Strategie 2020," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 40225, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Auctions; Subsidies; Market Design; Knapsack Problem;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • D45 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Rationing; Licensing

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:trf:wpaper:254. 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: Tamilla Benkelberg (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.