The package assignment model.

We study assignment problems where individuals trade packages consisting of several, rather than single, objects. Although buyers' reservations values are non-additive, efficient assignments can be formulated as a linear programming problem in which the pricing functions expressing duality may be no...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Economic Theory Vol. 107; no. 2; pp. 377 - 407
Main Authors: Bikhchandani, Sushil, Ostroy, Joseph M.
Format: Article
Published: Academic Press Inc. December 2002
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Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:We study assignment problems where individuals trade packages consisting of several, rather than single, objects. Although buyers' reservations values are non-additive, efficient assignments can be formulated as a linear programming problem in which the pricing functions expressing duality may be non-linear in the objects constituting the packages. The interconnections among the linear programming formulation, Walrasian equilibrium, and the core are established. In the single seller (auction) version, a necessary and sufficient condition is given for the Vickrey payoff point to be implementable by a pricing equilibrium. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C62, D44, D51. |Sc 2002 Elsevier Science (USA).