Constraints in fair division

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 46-61
Author(s):  
Warut Suksompong
Keyword(s):  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Fair Allocation ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Open Questions ◽  
Cake Cutting

The fair allocation of resources to interested agents is a fundamental problem in society. While the majority of the fair division literature assumes that all allocations are feasible, in practice there are often constraints on the allocation that can be chosen. In this survey, we discuss fairness guarantees for both divisible (cake cutting) and indivisible resources under several common types of constraints, including connectivity, cardinality, matroid, geometric, separation, budget, and conflict constraints. We also outline a number of open questions and directions.

scholarly journals Truthful fair division without free disposal

2020 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaohui Bei ◽  
Guangda Huzhang ◽  
Warut Suksompong
Keyword(s):  
Fair Division ◽  
Multiple Agents ◽  
Two Agents ◽  
Free Disposal ◽  
Cake Cutting ◽  
Strategic Agents ◽  
Additional Constraints

Abstract We study the problem of fairly dividing a heterogeneous resource, commonly known as cake cutting and chore division, in the presence of strategic agents. While a number of results in this setting have been established in previous works, they rely crucially on the free disposal assumption, meaning that the mechanism is allowed to throw away part of the resource at no cost. In the present work, we remove this assumption and focus on mechanisms that always allocate the entire resource. We exhibit a truthful and envy-free mechanism for cake cutting and chore division for two agents with piecewise uniform valuations, and we complement our result by showing that such a mechanism does not exist when certain additional constraints are imposed on the mechanisms. Moreover, we provide bounds on the efficiency of mechanisms satisfying various properties, and give truthful mechanisms for multiple agents with restricted classes of valuations.

Fair allocation of resources

BMJ ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (6007) ◽  
pp. 462-463
Author(s):  
F M Hall
Keyword(s):  
Fair Allocation ◽  
Allocation Of Resources

scholarly journals Envy-Free Division of Land

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 896-922 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erel Segal-Halevi ◽  
Shmuel Nitzan ◽  
Avinatan Hassidim ◽  
Yonatan Aumann
Keyword(s):  
Aspect Ratio ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Electronic Media ◽  
Geometric Shape ◽  
Geometric Constraints ◽  
Crucial Importance ◽  
One Dimensional ◽  
Individual Preferences ◽  
Cake Cutting ◽  
Natural Settings

Classic cake-cutting algorithms enable people with different preferences to divide among them a heterogeneous resource (“cake”) such that the resulting division is fair according to each agent’s individual preferences. However, these algorithms either ignore the geometry of the resource altogether or assume it is one-dimensional. In practice, it is often required to divide multidimensional resources, such as land estates or advertisement spaces in print or electronic media. In such cases, the geometric shape of the allotted piece is of crucial importance. For example, when building houses or designing advertisements, in order to be useful, the allotments should be squares or rectangles with bounded aspect ratio. We, thus, introduce the problem of fair land division—fair division of a multidimensional resource wherein the allocated piece must have a prespecified geometric shape. We present constructive division algorithms that satisfy the two most prominent fairness criteria, namely envy-freeness and proportionality. In settings in which proportionality cannot be achieved because of the geometric constraints, our algorithms provide a partially proportional division, guaranteeing that the fraction allocated to each agent be at least a certain positive constant. We prove that, in many natural settings, the envy-freeness requirement is compatible with the best attainable partial-proportionality.

Fair allocation of resources

BMJ ◽  
1976 ◽  
Vol 1 (6008) ◽  
pp. 526-526
Author(s):  
A F Rushforth
Keyword(s):  
Fair Allocation ◽  
Allocation Of Resources

Fair Division: From Cake-Cutting to Dispute Resolution.

1998 ◽  
Vol 105 (9) ◽  
pp. 877
Author(s):  
William F. Lucas ◽  
Steven J. Brams ◽  
Alan D. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Cake Cutting

scholarly journals Fair Division with a Secretive Agent

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 ◽  
pp. 1732-1739
Author(s):  
Eshwar Ram Arunachaleswaran ◽  
Siddharth Barman ◽  
Nidhi Rathi
Keyword(s):  
Partial Information ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Polynomial Time Algorithm ◽  
Time Algorithm ◽  
Indivisible Goods ◽  
Cake Cutting ◽  
Division Problems ◽  
Divisible Goods ◽  
Arbitrary Selection ◽  
Selection Of

We study classic fair-division problems in a partial information setting. This paper respectively addresses fair division of rent, cake, and indivisible goods among agents with cardinal preferences. We will show that, for all of these settings and under appropriate valuations, a fair (or an approximately fair) division among n agents can be efficiently computed using only the valuations of n − 1 agents. The nth (secretive) agent can make an arbitrary selection after the division has been proposed and, irrespective of her choice, the computed division will admit an overall fair allocation.For the rent-division setting we prove that well-behaved utilities of n − 1 agents suffice to find a rent division among n rooms such that, for every possible room selection of the secretive agent, there exists an allocation (of the remaining n − 1 rooms among the n − 1 agents) which ensures overall envy freeness (fairness). We complement this existential result by developing a polynomial-time algorithm for the case of quasilinear utilities. In this partial information setting, we also develop efficient algorithms to compute allocations that are envy-free up to one good (EF1) and ε-approximate envy free. These two notions of fairness are applicable in the context of indivisible goods and divisible goods (cake cutting), respectively.One of the main technical contributions of this paper is the development of novel connections between different fairdivision paradigms, e.g., we use our existential results for envy-free rent-division to develop an efficient EF1 algorithm.

scholarly journals Fair Division Under Cardinality Constraints

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arpita Biswas ◽  
Siddharth Barman
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Division Problem ◽  
Fair Allocation ◽  
Indivisible Goods ◽  
Solution Concepts ◽  
Cardinality Constraints ◽  
The Given

We consider the problem of fairly allocating indivisible goods, among agents, under cardinality constraints and additive valuations. In this setting, we are given a partition of the entire set of goods---i.e., the goods are categorized---and a limit is specified on the number of goods that can be allocated from each category to any agent. The objective here is to find a fair allocation in which the subset of goods assigned to any agent satisfies the given cardinality constraints. This problem naturally captures a number of resource-allocation applications, and is a generalization of the well-studied unconstrained fair division problem.  The two central notions of fairness, in the context of fair division of indivisible goods, are envy freeness up to one good (EF1) and the (approximate) maximin share guarantee (MMS). We show that the existence and algorithmic guarantees established for these solution concepts in the unconstrained setting can essentially be achieved under cardinality constraints. Furthermore, focusing on the case wherein all the agents have the same additive valuation, we establish that EF1 allocations exist even under matroid constraints.

scholarly journals Maximin Share Allocations on Cycles

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 ◽  
pp. 613-655
Author(s):  
Miroslaw Truszczynski ◽  
Zbigniew Lonc
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Social Choice ◽  
Fundamental Problem ◽  
Fair Division ◽  
Connected Subgraph ◽  
Indivisible Goods ◽  
Multi Agent Systems ◽  
Agent Systems ◽  
Multi Agent ◽  
Share Value

The problem of fair division of indivisible goods is a fundamental problem of resource allocation in multi-agent systems, also studied extensively in social choice. Recently, the problem was generalized to the case when goods form a graph and the goal is to allocate goods to agents so that each agent’s bundle forms a connected subgraph. For the maximin share fairness criterion, researchers proved that if goods form a tree, an allocation offering each agent a bundle of at least her maximin share value always exists. Moreover, it can be found in polynomial time. In this paper we consider the problem of maximin share allocations of goods on a cycle. Despite the simplicity of the graph, the problem turns out to be significantly harder than its tree version. We present cases when maximin share allocations of goods on cycles exist and provide in this case results on allocations guaranteeing each agent a certain fraction of her maximin share. We also study algorithms for computing maximin share allocations of goods on cycles.

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