Auctions with Interdependence and SOS: Improved Approximation

Ameer Amer, Inbal Talgam-Cohen

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Interdependent values make basic auction design tasks – in particular maximizing welfare truthfully in single-item auctions – quite challenging. Eden et al. recently established that if bidders’ valuation functions are submodular over their signals (a.k.a. SOS), a truthful 4-approximation to the optimal welfare exists. We show existence of a mechanism that is truthful and achieves a tight 2-approximation to the optimal welfare when signals are binary. Our mechanism is randomized and assigns bidders only 0 or 12 probabilities of winning the item. Our results utilize properties of submodular set functions, and extend to matroid settings.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAlgorithmic Game Theory - 14th International Symposium, SAGT 2021, Proceedings
EditorsIoannis Caragiannis, Kristoffer Arnsfelt Hansen
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages34-48
Number of pages15
ISBN (Print)9783030859466
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021
Event14th International Symposium on Algorithmic Game Theory, SAGT 2021 - Virtual, Online
Duration: 21 Sep 202124 Sep 2021

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume12885 LNCS

Conference

Conference14th International Symposium on Algorithmic Game Theory, SAGT 2021
CityVirtual, Online
Period21/09/2124/09/21

Keywords

  • Mechanism design
  • Submodularity
  • Welfare maximization

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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