arXiv subjects

Benjamin Balzer

Publications and source records attributed to Benjamin Balzer.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Mechanism Design with Endogenous Perception

We model endogenous perception of private information in single-agent screening problems, with potential evaluation errors. The agent's evaluation of their type depends on their cognitive state: either attentive (i.e., they correctly perceive their type) or inattentive (i.e., they might misperceive their type). The mechanism's incentives structure determines the agent's cognitive state via costly investment in cognition. We derive a general representation of attention incentives, show how they vary with the mechanism's allocation rule, and define a notion of accuracy of perception. In applications we showcase how perception both shapes and is shaped by the design of mechanisms.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2022

Never Say Never: Optimal Exclusion and Reserve Prices with Expectations-Based Loss-Averse Buyers

We study reserve prices in auctions with independent private values when bidders are expectations-based loss averse. We find that the optimal public reserve price excludes fewer bidder types than under risk neutrality. Moreover, we show that public reserve prices are not optimal as the seller can earn a higher revenue with mechanisms that better leverage the ``attachment effect''. We discuss two such mechanisms: i) an auction with a secrete and random reserve price, and ii) a two-stage mechanism where an auction with a public reserve price is followed by a negotiation if the reserve price is not met. Both of these mechanisms expose more bidders to the attachment effect, thereby increasing bids and ultimately revenue.

econ.TH↗

arXiv2022

Mechanism Design with Informational Punishment

We introduce \emph{informational punishment} to the design of mechanisms that compete with an exogenous status quo mechanism: Players can send garbled public messages with some delay, and others cannot commit to ignoring them. Optimal informational punishment ensures that full participation is without loss, even if any single player can publicly enforce the status quo mechanism. Informational punishment permits using a standard revelation principle, is independent of the mechanism designer's objective, and operates exclusively off the equilibrium path. It is robust to refinements and applies in informed-principal settings. We provide conditions that make it robust to opportunistic signal designers.

econ.TH↗