Abstract:
Current policies for allocating wireless spectrum have led to inefficiencies
and under-utilization. One proposed solution to this is to enable
“spectrum markets”, which allow for entities to sell and/or lease
spectrum dynamically over time. In this talk, we consider several issues related to the
design of such a market and how this is influenced by the
underlying properties of the wireless medium. In particular, we
focus on the role of interference created by different agents who may
seek to purchase the use of the same spectrum band at nearby locations.
Such interference can result in complementarities among the spectrum goods
being traded, which complicates the design of an efficient market mechanism.
We will discuss the complexity and efficiency for different models of markets
with such interference complementarities.

This talk is based on joint work with Hang Zhou, Michael
Honig and Rakesh Vohra.