Beyond Truthful Reporting: Robust Strategies for Worst-Case Payoff Maximization in Large Markets

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2025.2127

References

  • Anunrojwong J, Balseiro SR, Besbes O (2023) Robust auction design with support information. Preprint, submitted May 15, https://arxiv.org/abs/2305.09065.Google Scholar
  • Anunrojwong J, Balseiro SR, Besbes O (2025) On the robustness of second-price auctions in prior-independent mechanism design. Oper. Res. 73(3):1659–1674.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Ashlagi I, Braverman M, Hassidim A, Lavi R, Tennenholtz M (2010) Position auctions with budgets: Existence and uniqueness. BE J. Theoret. Econom. 10(1):1–32.Google Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Baranov O (2017) A practical guide to the combinatorial clock auction. Econom. J. 127(605):F334–F350.Google Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Baranov O (2020) Core-selecting auctions with incomplete information. Internat. J. Game Theory 49(1):251–273.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Baranov OV (2014) Market design and the evolution of the combinatorial clock auction. Amer. Econom. Rev. 104(5):446–451.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Milgrom P (2002) Ascending auctions with package bidding. Adv. Theoret. Econom. 1(1).Google Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Milgrom P (2006) The lovely but lonely Vickrey auction. Cramton P, Shoham Y, Steinberg R, eds. Combinatorial Auctions (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), 17–40.Google Scholar
  • Ausubel LM, Cramton P, Milgrom P (2006) The clock-proxy auction: A practical combinatorial auction design. Cramton P, Shoham Y, Steinberg R, eds. Combinatorial Auctions (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA), 115–138.Google Scholar
  • Bandi C, Bertsimas D (2014) Optimal design for multi-item auctions: A robust optimization approach. Math. Oper. Res. 39(4):1012–1038.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Beck M, Ott M (2013) Incentives for overbidding in minimum-revenue core-selecting auctions. Working paper, Stanford University.Google Scholar
  • Ben-Tal A, Nemirovski A (2002) Robust optimization–Methodology and applications. Math. Programming 92(3):453–480.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ben-Tal A, Nemirovski A, El Ghaoui L (2009) Robust Optimization (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bergemann D, Schlag KH (2008) Pricing without priors. J. Eur. Econom. Assoc. 6(2–3):560–569.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bertsimas D, Sim M (2004) The price of robustness. Oper. Res. 52(1):35–53.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bertsimas D, Gupta V, Kallus N (2018) Data-driven robust optimization. Math. Programming 167(2):235–292.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bichler M (2017) Market Design: A Linear Programming Approach to Auctions and Matching (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bichler M, Goeree JK (2017) Handbook of Spectrum Auction Design (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Bichler M, Gupta A, Ketter W (2010) Designing smart markets. Inform. Systems Res. 21(4):688–699.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bosshard V, Wang Y, Seuken S (2022) Non-decreasing payment rules for combinatorial auctions. Preprint, submitted June 7, https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.03857.Google Scholar
  • Bünz B, Lubin B, Seuken S (2022) Designing core-selecting payment rules: A computational search approach. Inform. Systems Res. 33(4):1157–1173.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Bünz B, Seuken S, Lubin B (2015) A faster core constraint generation algorithm for combinatorial auctions. Twenty-Ninth AAAI Conf. Artificial Intelligence 29(1):827–834.Google Scholar
  • Carroll G (2017) Robustness and separation in multidimensional screening. Econometrica 85(2):453–488.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Carroll G (2019) Robustness in mechanism design and contracting. Annual Rev. Econom. 11:139–166.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Che YK, Zhong W (2024) Robustly optimal mechanisms for selling multiple goods. Rev. Econom. Stud. 92(5):2923–2951.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Chen Z, Hu Z, Wang R (2024) Screening with limited information: A dual perspective. Oper. Res. 72(4):1487–1504.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Clarke EH (1971) Multipart pricing of public goods. Public Choice 11(1):17–33.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Cramton P (2017) Electricity market design. Oxford Rev. Econom. Policy 33(4):589–612.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Day R, Cramton P (2012) Quadratic core-selecting payment rules for combinatorial auctions. Oper. Res. 60(3):588–603.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Day R, Milgrom P (2008) Core-selecting package auctions. Internat. J. Game Theory 36(3–4):393–407.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Day R, Raghavan S (2007) Fair payments for efficient allocations in public sector combinatorial auctions. Management Sci. 53(9):1389–1406.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Delage E, Ye Y (2010) Distributionally robust optimization under moment uncertainty with application to data-driven problems. Oper. Res. 58(3):595–612.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Du S (2018) Robust mechanisms under common valuation. Econometrica 86(5):1569–1588.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Edelman B, Ostrovsky M (2007) Strategic bidder behavior in sponsored search auctions. Decision Support Syst. 43(1):192–198.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Edelman B, Ostrovsky M, Schwarz M (2007) Internet advertising and the generalized second-price auction: Selling billions of dollars worth of keywords. Amer. Econom. Rev. 97(1):242–259.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Emadikhiav M, Day R (2025) Walrasian pricing for combinatorial markets with compact-bidding languages: An application to truckload transportation. Inform. Systems Res. 36(3):1718–1737.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Erdil A, Klemperer P (2010) A new payment rule for core-selecting package auctions. J. Eur. Econom. Assoc. 8(2–3):537–547.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Gilboa I, Schmeidler D (1989) Maxmin expected utility with non-unique prior. J. Math. Econom. 18(2):141–153.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Goeree JK, Lien Y (2016) On the impossibility of core-selecting auctions. Theoret. Econom. 11(1):41–52.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Goetzendorff A, Bichler M, Shabalin P, Day RW (2015) Compact bid languages and core pricing in large multi-item auctions. Management Sci. 61(7):1684–1703.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Green J, Laffont JJ (1977) Characterization of satisfactory mechanisms for the revelation of preferences for public goods. Econometrica 45(2):427–438.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Groves T (1973) Incentives in teams. Econometrica 41(4):617–631.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Guler K, Bichler M, Petrakis I (2016) Ascending combinatorial auctions with risk averse bidders. Group Decision Negotiation 25(3):609–639.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Hafalir IE, Yektaş H (2015) Core deviation minimizing auctions. Internat. J. Game Theory 44(2):367–376.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Heczko A, Kittsteiner T, Ott M (2018) The performance of core-selecting auctions: An experiment. Working paper, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics. https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/esprep/176842.html.Google Scholar
  • Janssen M, Kasberger B (2019) On the clock of the combinatorial clock auction. Theoret. Econom. 14(4):1271–1307.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Kannan K, Pamuru V, Rosokha Y (2023) Analyzing frictions in generalized second-price auction markets. Inform. Systems Res. 34(4):1437–1454.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Karaenke P, Bichler M, Minner S (2019) Coordination is hard: Electronic market mechanisms for increased efficiency in transportation logistics. Management Sci. 65(12):5449–5956.Google Scholar
  • Kasberger B (2022) An equilibrium model of the first-price auction with strategic uncertainty: Theory and empirics. Preprint, submitted February 15, https://arxiv.org/abs/2202.07517.Google Scholar
  • Kasberger B, Schlag KH (2024) Robust bidding in first-price auctions: How to bid without knowing what others are doing. Management Sci. 70(7):4219–4235.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Kasberger B, Woodward K (2025) Bidding in multi-unit auctions under limited information. J. Econom. Theory 226:106008.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Koçyiğit Ç, Bayrak HI, Pınar MÇ (2018) Robust auction design under multiple priors by linear and integer programming. Ann. Oper. Res. 260(1):233–253.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Koçyiğit Ç, Iyengar G, Kuhn D, Wiesemann W (2020) Distributionally robust mechanism design. Management Sci. 66(1):159–189.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Krishna V (2009) Auction Theory (Academic Press, London).Google Scholar
  • Levin J, Skrzypacz A (2016) Properties of the combinatorial clock auction. Amer. Econom. Rev. 106(9):2528–2551.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Lucier B, Paes Leme R (2011) GSP auctions with correlated types. Proc. 12th ACM Conf. Electronic Commerce, 71–80.Google Scholar
  • Milgrom P (2017) Discovering Prices: Auction Design in Markets with Complex Constraints (Columbia University Press, New York).CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Milgrom P (2019) Auction market design: Recent innovations. Annual Rev. Econom. 11:383–405.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Myerson RB (1981) Optimal auction design. Math. Oper. Res. 6(1):58–73.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Niazadeh R, Hartline J, Immorlica N, Khani MR, Lucier B (2022) Fast core pricing for rich advertising auctions. Oper. Res. 70(1):223–240.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Nisan N, Segal I (2006) The communication requirements of efficient allocations and supporting prices. J. Econom. Theory 129(1):192–224.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Ostrovsky M, Skrzypacz A (2022) Pure-strategy equilibrium in the generalized first-price auction. Working paper, https://web.stanford.edu/∼ost/papers/gfp1.pdf.Google Scholar
  • Palacios-Huerta I, Parkes DC, Steinberg R (2024) Combinatorial auctions in practice. J. Econom. Literature 62(2):517–553.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Pınar MÇ, Kızılkale C (2017) Robust screening under ambiguity. Math. Programming 163:273–299.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Roth AE (2015) Who Gets What—And Why: The New Economics of Matchmaking and Market Design (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston).Google Scholar
  • Rothkopf MH, Pekeč A, Harstad RM (1998) Computationally manageable combinational auctions. Management Sci. 44(8):1131–1147.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Rothkopf MH, Teisberg TJ, Kahn EP (1990) Why are Vickrey auctions rare? J. Political Econom. 98(1):94–109.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Varian HR (2007) Position auctions. Internat. J. Indust. Organ. 25(6):1163–1178.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Vickrey W (1961) Counterspeculation, auctions, and competitive sealed tenders. J. Finance 16(1):8–37.CrossrefGoogle Scholar
  • Wang S (2025) The power of simple menus in robust selling mechanisms. Management Sci. 71(6):5268–5287.LinkGoogle Scholar
  • Wang S, Liu S, Zhang J (2024) Minimax regret robust screening with moment information. Manufacturing Service Oper. Management 26(3):992–1012.LinkGoogle Scholar
INFORMS site uses cookies to store information on your computer. Some are essential to make our site work; Others help us improve the user experience. By using this site, you consent to the placement of these cookies. Please read our Privacy Statement to learn more.