Are direct mechanisms always truthful?












3














I am very new to mechanism design so I am a bit lost among the concepts, even the most basic ones.



One thing that is not clear to me is the concept of direct mechanism and its relationship with the revelation principle.



From what I got a direct mechanism is a mechanisms, in which, instead of messages, the agents report their preference/type. Are we assuming this is a truthful report?



I am asking that because the revelation principle is stated as "anything that can be accomplished by any mechanism can actually be accomplished by a direct revelation mechanism that is individual rational and incentive compatible" in this notes but as "a social choice function can be implemented by an arbitrary mechanism (i.e. if that mechanism has an equilibrium outcome that corresponds to the outcome of the social choice function), then the same function can be implemented by an incentive-compatible-direct-mechanism (i.e. in which players truthfully report type) with the same equilibrium outcome (payoffs)." on Wikipedia.



So I don't get if truthfulness is implied by the direct mechanism or if it is an additional requirement.










share|improve this question





























    3














    I am very new to mechanism design so I am a bit lost among the concepts, even the most basic ones.



    One thing that is not clear to me is the concept of direct mechanism and its relationship with the revelation principle.



    From what I got a direct mechanism is a mechanisms, in which, instead of messages, the agents report their preference/type. Are we assuming this is a truthful report?



    I am asking that because the revelation principle is stated as "anything that can be accomplished by any mechanism can actually be accomplished by a direct revelation mechanism that is individual rational and incentive compatible" in this notes but as "a social choice function can be implemented by an arbitrary mechanism (i.e. if that mechanism has an equilibrium outcome that corresponds to the outcome of the social choice function), then the same function can be implemented by an incentive-compatible-direct-mechanism (i.e. in which players truthfully report type) with the same equilibrium outcome (payoffs)." on Wikipedia.



    So I don't get if truthfulness is implied by the direct mechanism or if it is an additional requirement.










    share|improve this question



























      3












      3








      3







      I am very new to mechanism design so I am a bit lost among the concepts, even the most basic ones.



      One thing that is not clear to me is the concept of direct mechanism and its relationship with the revelation principle.



      From what I got a direct mechanism is a mechanisms, in which, instead of messages, the agents report their preference/type. Are we assuming this is a truthful report?



      I am asking that because the revelation principle is stated as "anything that can be accomplished by any mechanism can actually be accomplished by a direct revelation mechanism that is individual rational and incentive compatible" in this notes but as "a social choice function can be implemented by an arbitrary mechanism (i.e. if that mechanism has an equilibrium outcome that corresponds to the outcome of the social choice function), then the same function can be implemented by an incentive-compatible-direct-mechanism (i.e. in which players truthfully report type) with the same equilibrium outcome (payoffs)." on Wikipedia.



      So I don't get if truthfulness is implied by the direct mechanism or if it is an additional requirement.










      share|improve this question















      I am very new to mechanism design so I am a bit lost among the concepts, even the most basic ones.



      One thing that is not clear to me is the concept of direct mechanism and its relationship with the revelation principle.



      From what I got a direct mechanism is a mechanisms, in which, instead of messages, the agents report their preference/type. Are we assuming this is a truthful report?



      I am asking that because the revelation principle is stated as "anything that can be accomplished by any mechanism can actually be accomplished by a direct revelation mechanism that is individual rational and incentive compatible" in this notes but as "a social choice function can be implemented by an arbitrary mechanism (i.e. if that mechanism has an equilibrium outcome that corresponds to the outcome of the social choice function), then the same function can be implemented by an incentive-compatible-direct-mechanism (i.e. in which players truthfully report type) with the same equilibrium outcome (payoffs)." on Wikipedia.



      So I don't get if truthfulness is implied by the direct mechanism or if it is an additional requirement.







      game-theory mechanism-design






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Dec 7 '18 at 0:25

























      asked Dec 7 '18 at 0:11









      Alessandro

      454422




      454422






















          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          3














          Incentive compatible here means that you have no incentive to lie. A direct mechanism that is not incentive compatible would entice some agents to report a false type.






          share|improve this answer





















          • Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
            – Alessandro
            Dec 7 '18 at 1:24










          • Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
            – denesp
            Dec 7 '18 at 5:44













          Your Answer





          StackExchange.ifUsing("editor", function () {
          return StackExchange.using("mathjaxEditing", function () {
          StackExchange.MarkdownEditor.creationCallbacks.add(function (editor, postfix) {
          StackExchange.mathjaxEditing.prepareWmdForMathJax(editor, postfix, [["$", "$"], ["\\(","\\)"]]);
          });
          });
          }, "mathjax-editing");

          StackExchange.ready(function() {
          var channelOptions = {
          tags: "".split(" "),
          id: "591"
          };
          initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

          StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
          // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
          if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
          StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
          createEditor();
          });
          }
          else {
          createEditor();
          }
          });

          function createEditor() {
          StackExchange.prepareEditor({
          heartbeatType: 'answer',
          autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
          convertImagesToLinks: false,
          noModals: true,
          showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
          reputationToPostImages: null,
          bindNavPrevention: true,
          postfix: "",
          imageUploader: {
          brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
          contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
          allowUrls: true
          },
          noCode: true, onDemand: true,
          discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
          ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
          });


          }
          });














          draft saved

          draft discarded


















          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2feconomics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f25921%2fare-direct-mechanisms-always-truthful%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown

























          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes








          1 Answer
          1






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          3














          Incentive compatible here means that you have no incentive to lie. A direct mechanism that is not incentive compatible would entice some agents to report a false type.






          share|improve this answer





















          • Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
            – Alessandro
            Dec 7 '18 at 1:24










          • Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
            – denesp
            Dec 7 '18 at 5:44


















          3














          Incentive compatible here means that you have no incentive to lie. A direct mechanism that is not incentive compatible would entice some agents to report a false type.






          share|improve this answer





















          • Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
            – Alessandro
            Dec 7 '18 at 1:24










          • Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
            – denesp
            Dec 7 '18 at 5:44
















          3












          3








          3






          Incentive compatible here means that you have no incentive to lie. A direct mechanism that is not incentive compatible would entice some agents to report a false type.






          share|improve this answer












          Incentive compatible here means that you have no incentive to lie. A direct mechanism that is not incentive compatible would entice some agents to report a false type.







          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Dec 7 '18 at 1:09









          denesp

          12.3k32247




          12.3k32247












          • Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
            – Alessandro
            Dec 7 '18 at 1:24










          • Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
            – denesp
            Dec 7 '18 at 5:44




















          • Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
            – Alessandro
            Dec 7 '18 at 1:24










          • Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
            – denesp
            Dec 7 '18 at 5:44


















          Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
          – Alessandro
          Dec 7 '18 at 1:24




          Thanks! Thus, for example, the revelation principle in dominant strategies is saying if a social choice function is implementable, than it is implementable using a direct mechanism, i.e. truth-telling is always a dominant strategy. Is it the right way to think about it?
          – Alessandro
          Dec 7 '18 at 1:24












          Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
          – denesp
          Dec 7 '18 at 5:44






          Not sure waht you mean by "always a dominant strategy", the always seems redundant to me. If a social choice function is implementable in dominant strategies you can construct a mechanism where truth-telling is a dominant strategy.
          – denesp
          Dec 7 '18 at 5:44




















          draft saved

          draft discarded




















































          Thanks for contributing an answer to Economics Stack Exchange!


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          Use MathJax to format equations. MathJax reference.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





          Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


          Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


          • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

          But avoid



          • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

          • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


          To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




          draft saved


          draft discarded














          StackExchange.ready(
          function () {
          StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2feconomics.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f25921%2fare-direct-mechanisms-always-truthful%23new-answer', 'question_page');
          }
          );

          Post as a guest















          Required, but never shown





















































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown

































          Required, but never shown














          Required, but never shown












          Required, but never shown







          Required, but never shown







          Popular posts from this blog

          Сан-Квентин

          8-я гвардейская общевойсковая армия

          Алькесар