The conference seeks papers devoted to issues that arise in all stages of deploying a market mechanism to solve a problem. This includes, but is not limited to, theoretical and empirical examination of questions such as: Is a market the right mechanism for the problem? What are the externalitie…
The conference seeks papers devoted to issues that arise in all stages of deploying a market mechanism to solve a problem. This includes, but is not limited to, theoretical and empirical examination of questions such as: Is a market the right mechanism for the problem? What are the externalities involved? What are the issues with central planning? How should novel markets be organized? What is the "right" micro-structure for a given problem? What is the best way to provide incentives? Is (real) money necessary?
Will the use of markets lead to the creation of artificial economies and what can we say about these economies? What new problems arise because of the special nature of these markets (e.g., from everyone wanting to use a cluster around the time of a conference deadline)? What protocols need to be in place for agents to participate in such markets (including everything from practical matters like integrating bidding protocols into the system to theoretical questions like incentive compatibility)? Is there a need for new mechanisms for specific applications (e.g., auctions used in sponsored search were never used in other settings)? If so, what properties of applications warrant such mechanisms?