How To Avoid Awarding a Valuable Asset

Many mechanisms (such as auctions) efficiently allocate a good to the firm which most highly values it. But sometimes the owner of the asset or good may wish to transfer it only if it is not too valuable to potential buyers. The allocation problem becomes especially difficult when the potential buyers have private information about the asset’s value. We describe several mechanisms which are efficient, or nearly so. We also show that rent seeking, and lobbying, rather than merely wasting resources, can lead to allocations which are close to efficient.