English

Fair Division with Binary Valuations: Characterizations

Theoretical Economics 2026-07-11 v1 Computer Science and Game Theory

Abstract

We consider the fair allocation of indivisible goods with binary valuations. In this setting, the maximum Nash welfare rule, the leximin rule, and all additive welfarist rules with a strictly concave function coincide. We show that for any number of agents, this rule is the only rule that satisfies envy-freeness up to one good, strategyproofness, neutrality, minimal completeness, and invariance under disapproving unassigned goods (IDU). Moreover, we present an alternative characterization for two agents, where we replace IDU with non-redundancy and resource-monotonicity. In both characterizations, all axioms are necessary.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2607.10064,
  title  = {Fair Division with Binary Valuations: Characterizations},
  author = {Florian Brandl and Warut Suksompong and Nicholas Teh},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2607.10064},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Appears in the 19th International Symposium on Algorithmic Game Theory (SAGT), 2026