1. Auction Theory תכנון מכרזים ומכירות פומביות
Topic 7 – VCG mechanisms

2. Previously… We studied single-item auctions
Bidders have values vi for an item
A winning bidder gets a utility of ui=vi-pi
A losing bidder pays nothing and get ui=0

3. Previously… Seller possible goals:
Maximize social welfare (efficiency)
2nd-price (Vickrey) auction
Maximize revenue
2nd-price auction with a reserve price (Myerson)
For example, reserve-price=1/2 for the unifom distribution on [0,1]
Reserve price is independent of the number of players.
Optimality assumes a technical assumption on the distributions.
Revenue equivalence

4. Previously …
We saw that in single-item auctions we can maximize efficiency with dominant strategies.
Can this be achieved in other models?

5. Today
This class: Moving from a specific example (single-item auctions) to a more general mechanism design setting.
Main goal: in the presence of incomplete information, design the right incentives such that the efficient outcome will be chosen.

6. Outline Some examples VCG idea – intuition Formal part:
Mechanism design model
The VCG mechanism
Proof: VCG is truthful
Roommates example

7. Auctions scheme v1 b1 v2 b2 $$$ v3 b3 v4 b4 values bids winner
payments v3 b3 v4 b4

8. Mechanism Design scheme
types
Bids/reports t1 b1 t2 b2
outcome
payments t3 b3
Social planner
p1,p2,p3,p4 t4 b4

9. Example 1: Roommates buy TV
Consider two roommates who would like to buy a TV for their apartment.
TV costs $100
They should decide:
Do they want to buy a TV together?
If so, how should they share the costs?
רק אירוויזיון!
I only watch sports

10. Example 2: Selling multiple items
Each bidder has a value of vi for an item.
But now we have 5 items!
Each bidder want only one item.
An efficient outcome: sell the items to the 5 bidders with the highest values.
$70
$30
$27
$25
$12 $5 $2

11. Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanisms
Goal: implement the efficient outcome in dominant strategies.
A general method to do this: VCG
2nd-price auction is a special case
Solution (intuitively): players should pay the “damage” they impose on society.

12. Welfare of the other players from the chosen outcome
VCG basic idea (cont.)
In more details:
You can maximize efficiency by:
Choosing the efficient outcome (given the bids)
Each player pays his “social cost” (how much his existence hurts the others).
pi =
Optimal welfare (for the other players) if player i was not participating.
Welfare of the other players from the chosen outcome

13. Vickrey-Clarke-Groves (VCG) mechanisms
Let’s see how this payment rule works on our examples:
Pi =
Optimal welfare (for the other players) if player i was not participating.
Welfare of the other players from the chosen outcome

14. VCG idea in single item auctions
Optimal welfare (for the other players) if player i was not participating.
Welfare of the other players from the chosen outcome
Pi=
= 2nd-highest value.
When i is not playing, the welfare will be the second highest.
= 0.
When i wins, the total value of the other is 0.
 By VCG payments, winners pay the 2nd-highest bid

15. VCG in 5-item auctions pi=
Optimal welfare (for the other players) if player i was not participating.
Welfare of the other players from the chosen outcome
pi= =
The five winners when i is not playing. =
The other four winners.
What is my VCG payment?
pays 5
pays ??
$70
$30
$27
$25
$12 $5 $2

16. VCG in k-item auctions VCG rules for k-item auctions:
Highest k bids win.
Everyone pay the (k+1)st bid.
And truthfulness is a dominant strategy here too. (we will prove it later)

17. Outline Some examples VCG idea – intuition  Formal part:
Mechanism design model
The VCG mechanism
Proof: VCG is truthful
VCG: the negative side

18. Mechanism Design scheme
types
Bids/reports t1 b1 t2 b2
outcome
payments t3 b3
Social planner
p1,p2,p3,p4 t4 b4

19. Formal model n players possible outcome w1,w2,…,wm
Each player has private info ti
Each player has a value per each outcome (depends on ti)
vi(ti,w) w is from {w1,…,wm}
Goal of social planner: choose w that maximizes
Single-item auction example:
2 players
w1 = “1 wins”, w2 = “2 wins”
ti=vi (willingness to pay)
v1(v1, w1) = v1 v1(v1, w2) = 0
Goal: choose a winner with the highest vi.

20. Formal model w*=w5 w1 w2 w3 w4 w5 Player 1 V1(t1,w1) V1(t1,w2)
Assume:w5 maximizes efficiency

21. VCG – formal definition
Bidders are asked to report their private values ti
Terminology: (given the reported ti’s)
w* outcome that maximizes the efficiency.
Let w*-i be the efficient outcome when i is not playing.
The VCG mechanism:
Outcome w* is chosen.
Each bidder pays:
The total value for the other when player i is not participating
The total value for the others when i participates

22. Truthfulness
Theorem (Vickrey-Clarke-Groves): In the VCG mechanism, truth-telling is a dominant strategy for all players.
Conclusion: welfare maximization can always be achieved in dominant strategies.
No Bayesian distributional assumptions.
No real multiple-equilibria problem as in Nash.
Very simple strategy for the bidders.

23. Now, proof.
We will show:
no matter what the others are doing, lying about my type will not help me.

24. Truthfulness of VCG - Proof
The VCG mechanism:
Outcome w* is chosen.
Each bidder pays:
Method of proof: we will assume that there is a profitable lie for some player I, and this will result in a contradiction.

25. Truthfulness of VCG - Proof
Buyer’s utility (when w* is chosen):
Assume: bidder i reports a lie t’  outcome x is chosen.
Buyer’s utility (when x is chosen):

26. Truthfulness of VCG - Proof
Buyer’s utility from truth (w* is chosen):
Buyer’s utility from lying (x is chosen):
Lying is good when:
>
Impossible since w* maximizes social welfare!

27. Truthfulness of VCG - intuition
The trick is actually quite simple:
By lying, players may be able to change the outcome.
But their utility depends not only on the outcome, but also on their payments.
With VCG payments, the utility of each player is the total efficiency.
 Therefore, players want the efficient outcome to be chosen. Lying my ruin this.

28. This could be any function of the other bids.
The VCG family
From the proof, we can see that the VCG mechanism is actually a family of mechanisms.
The VCG mechanism:
Outcome w* is chosen.
Each bidder pays:
This could be any function of the other bids.

29. The VCG family
From the proof, we can see that the VCG mechanism is actually a family of mechanisms.
The VCG mechanism:
Outcome w* is chosen.
Each bidder pays:
Choosing ensures individual rationality (when values are positive) (the utility of each player is never negative, why?) and no positive transfers (players are not paid to participate, why?).

30. Single vs. Multi parameter
We actually proved before how to implement the efficient outcome:
Max{v1,….,vn} is a monotone function  we know how to construct mechanisms implementing it.
What do VCG mechanisms add?
But, this holds for very specific environments: players’ values are single parameter
That is, can be represented by a single real number (or more formally, an ordered space).
We needed the concept of “raising the value of a player” which implicitly implies an ordered space.
The VCG mechanism is more general: multi-parameter domains.
Even if the private value consists of many values (as in multi-unit auctions).

31. Single vs. Multi parameter (cont.)
What we learnt in previous classes holds for very specific environments: players’ values are single parameter
That is, can be represented by a single real number (or more formally, an ordered space).
Even the interdependent/correlated models.
We needed the concept of “raising the value of a player” which implicitly implies an ordered space.
The VCG mechanism is more general: multi-parameter domains.
Even if the private value consists of many values (as in multi-unit auctions).

32. Single vs. Multi parameter (cont.)
From a mechanism design point of view, the difference between single- and multi parameter domains is huge:
The single parameter case is well-understood.
efficient (Vickrey) auctions, optimal (Myerson) auctions, characterization of implementable social-choice functions.
Multi-parameter are mostly still an open problem
For example, no-one knows what is the optimal (revenue maximal) auctions even for 2 bidders and 2 items.
VCG is one of the few general results known for multi-dimensional domains.
But still, most real problems are multi dimensional. We will consider them in the coming classes.

33. Outline Some examples VCG idea – intuition Formal part:
Mechanism design model
The VCG mechanism
Proof: VCG is truthful
Roommates example

34. Example 1: Roommates buy TV
TV cost $100
Bidders are willing to pay v1 and v2
Private information.
VCG ensures:
Efficient outcome (buy if v1+v2>100)
Truthful revelation.
In our model: Welfare when buying: v1+v2 Welfare when not buying: 100 (saved the construction cost)

35. Example 1: Roommates buy TV
Let’s compute VCG payments.
Consider values v1=70, v2=80.
With player 1: value for the others is 80.
Without player 1: welfare is 100.
 p1= =20
Similarly: p2 = = 30
Total payment received: < 100
Cost is not covered!
In general, p1=100-v2, p2=100-v1
p1+p2 = 100-v1+100-v2 = 100-(v1+v2-100) < 100
Whenever we build, cost is not covered.

36. Example 1: Roommates buy TV
100
Payment of agent 1 80 v2
Needed to cover the cost
Payment of agent 2 70
100 v1

37. Example 1: Roommates buy TV
Conclusion: in some cases, the VCG mechanism is not budget-balanced.
(spends more than it collects from the players.)
This is a real problem!
There isn’t much we can do: It can be shown that there is no mechanism that is both efficient and budget balanced.
Even in simple settings: one seller and one buyer with private values.
“Myerson-Satterthwaite theorem”

38. Roommates (cont.)
Now, assume that the values are v1=110, v2=130. How much each one pays (in VCG)? 0 Reason: agents do not affect the outcome Players that affect the outcome: pivots. Therefore, the VCG mechanism is also known as the pivot mechanism.

39. Context: Public goods
The roommate problem is knows as the “public good” problem.
Consider a government that wants to build a bridge.
When to build? If the total welfare is greater than the cost.
How the cost is shared?
Efficiency vs. Budget Balance (cannot achieve both).
Another example: cable infrastructure.

40. More problems with VCG
We saw one important flaw of VCG mechanisms: not budget balanced
Other problems with VCG:
Auctions with externalities
Collusions
False name bids
Revenue monotonicity

41. Summary: VCG Maximizing efficiency is desired in various settings.
We saw: one can always achieve this with (dominant-strategy) equilibrium.
“implementation”
This is the only general goal that is known to be “implementable”.
Pros: No distributional assumptions, strong equilibrium concept, individually rational.
Cons: not budget balanced, prone to other manipulations.