A Modular Approach to Roberts' Theorem

Roberts’ theorem from 1979 states that the only incentive compatible mechanisms over a full domain and range of at least 3 are weighted variants of the VCG mechanism termed affine maximizers. Roberts’ proof is somewhat ”magical” and we provide a new ”modular” proof. We hope that this proof will help in future efforts to extend the theorem to non-full domains such as combinatorial auctions or scheduling.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: SAGT
• Authors: Shahar Dobzinski, Noam Nisan
• Keywords: Affine Maximizers, Game Theory, Incentive Compatible Mechanisms, SAGT 2009, VCG Mechanism