We consider a differentiated product duopoly where a regulated firm competes with a private firm. The instrument of regulation is the level of privatization. First, the regulator determines the level of privatization to maximize social welfare. Then both firms endogenously choose the mode of...

This paper characterizes lexicographic preferences over alternatives that are identified by a finite number of attributes. We say two alternatives are 'totally different' if they are different with respect to every attribute. Our characterization is based on two key concepts: a weaker notion of...

We present a microeconomic analysis of subsistence consumption in a standard consumer theory setting. We define 'subsistence and saturation induced irrelevance' (SSI) preferences for an individual who makes choices over two goods: a basic good and a non-basic good. The basic good has two key...

We address the mechanism design issue for the sequencing problem. We identify the just sequencing rule that serves the agents in the non-increasing order of their waiting costs and prove that it is a Rawlsian rule. We identify all rVCG mechanisms that implement the just sequencing rule. The...

We present a microeconomic analysis of subsistence in the consumer theory framework with two goods: the basic good (food) and the non-basic good (non-food). Subsistence results in two regions in the consumption set: the pre subsistence zone in which the individual's subsistence requirement is...

We adopt a welfarist approach to study sequencing problems in a private information setup. The ”generalized minimum welfare bound” (GMWB) is a universal representation of all the specific bounds that have been previously studied in the literature. Every agent is offered a protection in the...

In a two-good setting we axiomatize (a) preferences with subsistence consumption and (b) a generalized version of Leontief preferences. Our axiomatization allows for different levels of subsistence and captures the presence of poverty and prosperity. Our axioms are based on the irrelevance of...

This paper provides a microeconomic analysis of subsistence consumption in the consumer theory framework. Our key concepts are 'irrelevance' of a good in certain consumption bundles (increasing its amount does not make the consumer better off) and an 'unhappy set' (any bundle outside such a set...

In a two-good setting we axiomatize (a) preferences with subsistence consumption and (b) a generalized version of Leontief preferences. Our axiomatization allows for different levels of subsistence and captures the presence of poverty and prosperity. Our axioms are based on the irrelevance of...

This paper provides a microeconomic analysis of subsistence consumption in the consumer theory framework. Our key concepts are 'irrelevance' of a good in certain consumption bundles (increasing its amount does not make the consumer better off) and an 'unhappy set' (any bundle outside such a set...