Polling Mechanisms and the Demand Revelation Problem

We consider a revelation mechanism for the production of public goods. A sample of consumers is drawn at random. Each member of the sample is asked to reveal her(his) preferences; agents are subjected to transfers of the Groves class; and any surplus of taxes collected on sampled agents is redistributed to non-sampled agents. This polling mechanism is non-parametric, revealing in dominant strategies, budget balanced, and approximately efficient if the consumer population is large. When applied to a public good with exclusion, this mechanism, in combination with consumer free mobility, yields approximately optimal allocations. Keyword(s): Excludable public goods, Revelation of preferences, Polling, Mechanism design