A robust approach to designing mechanisms for budget constrained agents. This project aims to study the design of robust implementable allocation mechanisms for agents who face financial constraints. Financial constraints are important for housing markets, big business auctions and government procurement. Yet their effect on the performance of allocation policies is not well understood. The project intends to develop a general and tractable framework of allocation mechanisms that are implementab ....A robust approach to designing mechanisms for budget constrained agents. This project aims to study the design of robust implementable allocation mechanisms for agents who face financial constraints. Financial constraints are important for housing markets, big business auctions and government procurement. Yet their effect on the performance of allocation policies is not well understood. The project intends to develop a general and tractable framework of allocation mechanisms that are implementable without deficits. The project will adapt this framework to the study of revenue-maximising multi-object auctions with complementarities, and to house allocation problems and related situations where efficiency and priority assignments are important considerations. The project expects to provide policy insights and implications relevant to the Australian housing market.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160100964
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$371,000.00
Summary
Understanding and designing persuasion mechanisms. The objective of this project is to understand and design persuasion mechanisms. Persuasion is about conveying information, influencing beliefs and manipulating actions. Educational campaigns and media censorship regulations are examples of persuasion mechanisms. Existing techniques from the economics of persuasion only permit analysis of specific and limited settings. This project aims to apply the classical mechanism design approach in a novel ....Understanding and designing persuasion mechanisms. The objective of this project is to understand and design persuasion mechanisms. Persuasion is about conveying information, influencing beliefs and manipulating actions. Educational campaigns and media censorship regulations are examples of persuasion mechanisms. Existing techniques from the economics of persuasion only permit analysis of specific and limited settings. This project aims to apply the classical mechanism design approach in a novel way to model persuasion in rich and realistic settings, thus providing insights into real-world situations. It is anticipated that this will allow us to answer questions such as ‘Should an educational campaign target different consumers with different information?’ and ‘When should a government censor extreme media outlets?'.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210101085
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$323,692.00
Summary
Stability of Multilateral Agreements and the Limits to Cooperation. This project aims to analyze the stability of multilateral agreements. This is expected to be done by building upon the cooperative approach in game theory that focuses on groups as the primary decision makers. Moving the unit of analysis from an individual to a group has the advantage of widening the applicability of game theoretic methods to social issues. Consequently, the project is expected to enhance our understanding of h ....Stability of Multilateral Agreements and the Limits to Cooperation. This project aims to analyze the stability of multilateral agreements. This is expected to be done by building upon the cooperative approach in game theory that focuses on groups as the primary decision makers. Moving the unit of analysis from an individual to a group has the advantage of widening the applicability of game theoretic methods to social issues. Consequently, the project is expected to enhance our understanding of how and why cooperation can be sustained in some of the most pressing challenges faced by the society today that require extensive international collaboration to overcome, such as environmental change, trade disputes, and arms-control.
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Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170100340
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$311,000.00
Summary
Competition in persuasion. This project aims to develop tools to analyse situations where multiple self-interested persuaders attempt to convince a set of listeners. It will build upon recent developments in the economics of persuasion literature, and apply tools from mechanism design literature. This approach, unlike other existing work, is not limited to specific settings and has the advantage of being highly tractable. Using these tools, this project intends to provide insights into the mecha ....Competition in persuasion. This project aims to develop tools to analyse situations where multiple self-interested persuaders attempt to convince a set of listeners. It will build upon recent developments in the economics of persuasion literature, and apply tools from mechanism design literature. This approach, unlike other existing work, is not limited to specific settings and has the advantage of being highly tractable. Using these tools, this project intends to provide insights into the mechanisms behind grade inflation among universities, the optimal design of certification industries and information disclosure in clinical trials.Read moreRead less
An economic analysis of multi-period reform programs. This project aims to use a mechanism design approach to study multi-period reform programs and their use in the transition from status quo institutions. The project intends to shed light on the difficulties of introducing efficiency enhancing long-term policies. Expected outcomes include theoretical models that incorporate adjustment costs, common values, and complicated status quo institutions into models of economic reform from a mechanism ....An economic analysis of multi-period reform programs. This project aims to use a mechanism design approach to study multi-period reform programs and their use in the transition from status quo institutions. The project intends to shed light on the difficulties of introducing efficiency enhancing long-term policies. Expected outcomes include theoretical models that incorporate adjustment costs, common values, and complicated status quo institutions into models of economic reform from a mechanism design perspective as well as optimal dynamic reform policies in the presence of these frictions, focusing attention in the trade-off between static efficiency and dynamic welfare gains. Intended benefits include insights that are wildly applicable to the provision of public infrastructure and management of public resources.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200100590
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$416,154.00
Summary
Optimal policy and mechanism design in education and labour markets. This project aims to investigate the optimal design and efficiency implications of education and labour market policies such as differential treatment in school assignment, university admissions, hiring and promotions within organisations. The project expects to develop novel theoretical models of public policy using techniques from information economics and mechanism design. The expected outcomes of this project include an enh ....Optimal policy and mechanism design in education and labour markets. This project aims to investigate the optimal design and efficiency implications of education and labour market policies such as differential treatment in school assignment, university admissions, hiring and promotions within organisations. The project expects to develop novel theoretical models of public policy using techniques from information economics and mechanism design. The expected outcomes of this project include an enhanced capacity to design policies and a new conceptual framework to assess their efficiency. This should enable policymakers and organisations to implement more efficient policies, and inform public debates on the merits of preferential treatment, gender equity policies and other education and labour market policies. Read moreRead less
Legitimacy and representation: A comprehensive study of electoral systems and strategic voting behaviour. What makes a good electoral system? How can it reflect the preference of the majority while guaranteeing representation to minorities? Should voting be voluntary or mandatory? These are very relevant questions for any democracy, but particularly so for Australia: a country which has always been at the forefront of the electoral debate, that proudly strives to represent with fairness all sect ....Legitimacy and representation: A comprehensive study of electoral systems and strategic voting behaviour. What makes a good electoral system? How can it reflect the preference of the majority while guaranteeing representation to minorities? Should voting be voluntary or mandatory? These are very relevant questions for any democracy, but particularly so for Australia: a country which has always been at the forefront of the electoral debate, that proudly strives to represent with fairness all sectors of its very diverse society and where voting is not only a citizen's right, but also her duty. By approaching these issues in a game theoretic framework, this project proposes to investigate the strategic nature of voting through a comprehensive study of electoral systems. The project will then test our theoretical predictions through a series of laboratory experiments. Read moreRead less
Understanding and Designing Non-Price Institutions. This project aims to further our understanding of non-price institutions such as firms, voting rules, trading mechanisms, bargaining protocols, and publically owned assets. It builds on existing contributions to "Property Rights Theory" and "Mechanism Design", particularly relaxing strong assumptions about common knowledge and complete rationality.
A new approach to stability analysis for economic systems. This project will provide a new methodology for analysing stability in economic systems. By enhancing our understanding of stability and instability in markets for assets, credit, commodities and natural resources, this project will help economists forecast likely outcomes and improve the formulation of related economic policy.
An Edition of the Remaining Unpublished Writings of JM Keynes. John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential of 20th century economists, has returned to prominence during the recent global crisis. Despite his intellectual importance, a vast quantity of his writings on economics, philosophy, politics and other subjects remains unpublished. This project aims to address this issue by publishing these writings in a twelve volume edition, commencing with necessary groundwork for the edition as a w ....An Edition of the Remaining Unpublished Writings of JM Keynes. John Maynard Keynes, one of the most influential of 20th century economists, has returned to prominence during the recent global crisis. Despite his intellectual importance, a vast quantity of his writings on economics, philosophy, politics and other subjects remains unpublished. This project aims to address this issue by publishing these writings in a twelve volume edition, commencing with necessary groundwork for the edition as a whole and preparation of the first two volumes. The expected outcomes are a prestigious international edition, deeper understandings of Keynes’s economic theories and policies and their foundations, and subsequent publications analysing the significance of these writings.Read moreRead less