Claudio Mezzetti
Abstract
Agents' valuations are interdependent if they depend on the signals
of all agents. Previous literature has claimed that with interdependent
valuations and multidimensional, but independent, signals, efficient auction
design is impossible. This paper shows that, on the contrary, it is always
possible to find efficient auction mechanisms. Furthermore, it characterizes
the conditions under which it is possible to extract the full surplus from
the agents. Finally, it shows that it is also possible to provide agents
with the incentives for the efficient, ex-ante acquisition of information.
All these results rest on the application of a generalized version of the
revelation principle, which requires that the designer uses two reporting
stages.
Keywords: Auctions, Mechanism Design, Interdependent Valuations, Efficiency, Surplus Extraction, Information Acquisition.