American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Friend-Based Ranking
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 14,
no. 2, May 2022
(pp. 176–214)
Abstract
We analyze the design of a mechanism to extract a ranking of individuals according to a unidimensional characteristic, such as ability or need. Individuals, connected on a social network, only have local information about the ranking. We show that a planner can construct an ex post incentive compatible and efficient mechanism if and only if every pair of friends has a friend in common. We characterize the windmill network as the sparsest social network for which the planner can always construct a complete ranking.Citation
Bloch, Francis, and Matthew Olckers. 2022. "Friend-Based Ranking." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics 14 (2): 176–214. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20190333Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- D11 Consumer Economics: Theory
- D82 Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
- D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
- D85 Network Formation and Analysis: Theory
- O12 Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
- Z13 Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification