[nwah1]

Yep. I've heard VCG or combinatorial auctions proposed as a solution for various problems.

I think it is used for advertising slots, and airline gates, but could be used for logistics brokerages, or unit rentals in skyscrapers.

The wiki article on combinatorial auctions provides examples.

>Simple combinatorial auctions have been used for many years in estate auctions, where a common procedure is to accept bids for packages of items. They have been used recently for truckload transportation, bus routes, industrial procurement, and in the allocation of radio spectrum for wireless communications. In recent years, procurement teams have applied reverse combinatorial auctions in the procurement of goods and services.

>Combinatorial auctions were first proposed by Rassenti, Smith, and Bulfin (1982), for the allocation of airport landing slots.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combinatorial_auction

[bluedevil2k]

Combinatorial is popular for spectrum auctions as well. Typically it's used in auctions where there are different bands of frequencies being sold at the same time (700Mhz and 2.1 GHz in the same auction for example). In that situation, bidders bid until supply meets demand to determine block prices in each band. Then the bidders can bid any combination of blocks less than or equal to what they bid at any point in the auction and give that package an overall price. The solver mechanism crunches all those packages to determine a solution that maximizes revenue for the government.