Abstract
This study considers the characterization and implementation of the optimal revenue-sharing mechanism when the seller’s ex-post effort affects the final outcome. In the optimal revenue-sharing mechanism with the seller’s full commitment to effort exertion, the seller commits to the first-best effort. Under the regularity condition guaranteed by the assumption of log-concave density, the optimal mechanism selects the bidder with the highest type, provided that the associated virtual surplus with the seller’s commitment to the first-best effort is positive. A first-price share auction with an appropriate reserve share and an effort commitment scheme can implement the optimal revenue-sharing mechanism. However, a second-price share auction might fail for implementation, such as in a case with two bidders and a uniform type distribution. Lastly, we introduce a sealed-bid share auction called the first-second price share auction, which can implement the optimal mechanism in dominant strategy.