Economists have long been interested in mechanisms that lead to truthful revelation of the relative values individuals place on different goods. In this paper we take one of the most popular of such mechanisms, and show that valuations obtained using the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) procedure depend on the distribution of prices presented to subjects when the mechanism is implemented. We show that this effect of price distribution occurs quite frequently, significantly impacts reported valuations, and that it is unlikely to be caused by misconceptions about BDM. This effect is the largest when pricing distributions show a large peak just above or just below an individual's average valuation of the good being considered. We also show that a simple non-incentive compatible subject rating of the desirability of goods can be used to predict the likelihood that pricing distributions will influence BDM valuations. Valuations for goods subjects report that they most want to purchase are most likely to be influenced by distributional structure. Our results challenge some of the dominant theoretical models of how BDM-like valuation procedures relate to standard notions of utility.

中文翻译：

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由 Becker-DeGroot-Marschak 机制衡量的消费品的灵活估值。

长期以来，经济学家一直对能够真实揭示个人对不同商品的相对价值的机制感兴趣。在本文中，我们采用了此类机制中最流行的一种，并表明使用 Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) 程序获得的估值取决于实施该机制时呈现给主体的价格分布。我们表明价格分布的这种影响经常发生，显着影响报告的估值，并且不太可能由对 BDM 的误解引起。当定价分布显示一个大峰值高于或略低于个人对所考虑商品的平均估值时，这种影响最大。我们还表明，一个简单的非激励相容的商品合意性主体评级可用于预测定价分布影响 BDM 估值的可能性。商品主体的估值报告说，他们最想购买的商品最有可能受到分配结构的影响。我们的结果挑战了一些关于 BDM 类估值程序如何与标准效用概念相关的主要理论模型。