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We consider the problem of determining a sequence of payments among a set of entities that clear (if possible) the liabilities among them. We formulate this as an optimal control problem, which is convex when the objective function is, and…

Computational Finance · Quantitative Finance 2020-05-20 Shane Barratt , Stephen Boyd

We study strategic classification in binary decision-making settings where agents can modify their features in order to improve their classification outcomes. Importantly, our work considers the causal structure across different features,…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-02-11 Valia Efthymiou , Chara Podimata , Diptangshu Sen , Juba Ziani

How should one jointly design tests and the arrangement of agencies to administer these tests (testing procedure)? To answer this question, we analyze a model where a principal must use multiple tests to screen an agent with a…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-02-19 Xiaoyun Qiu , Liren Shan

We introduce and study a computational version of the principal-agent problem -- a classic problem in Economics that arises when a principal desires to contract an agent to carry out some task, but has incomplete information about the agent…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-05-18 David Hyland , Julian Gutierrez , Michael Wooldridge

We study how to optimally design selection mechanisms, accounting for agents' investment incentives. A principal wishes to allocate a resource of homogeneous quality to a heterogeneous population of agents. The principal commits to a…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-11-11 Victor Augias , Eduardo Perez-Richet

What is the purpose of pre-analysis plans, and how should they be designed? We model the interaction between an agent who analyzes data and a principal who makes a decision based on agent reports. The agent could be the manufacturer of a…

Econometrics · Economics 2024-07-30 Maximilian Kasy , Jann Spiess

In dynamic mechanism design literature, one critical aspect has been typically ignored-the agents' periodic participation, which they can adapt and plan strategically. We propose a framework for dynamic principal-multiagent problems,…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-16 Tao Zhang , Quanyan Zhu

The push-forward operation enables one to redistribute a probability measure through a deterministic map. It plays a key role in statistics and optimization: many learning problems (notably from optimal transport, generative modeling, and…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2025-05-19 Lucas de Lara , Mathis Deronzier , Alberto González-Sanz , Virgile Foy

A multi-convex optimization problem is one in which the variables can be partitioned into sets over which the problem is convex when the other variables are fixed. Multi-convex problems are generally solved approximately using variations on…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2016-10-11 Xinyue Shen , Steven Diamond , Madeleine Udell , Yuantao Gu , Stephen Boyd

Transparency is an essential requirement of machine learning based decision making systems that are deployed in real world. Often, transparency of a given system is achieved by providing explanations of the behavior and predictions of the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2021-05-18 André Artelt , Barbara Hammer

We study hidden-action principal-agent problems in which a principal commits to an outcome-dependent payment scheme (called contract) so as to incentivize the agent to take a costly, unobservable action leading to favorable outcomes. In…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-08-18 Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi , Nicola Gatti

Adverse selection is a version of the principal-agent problem that includes monopolist nonlinear pricing, where a monopolist with known costs seeks a profit-maximizing price menu facing a population of potential consumers whose preferences…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-11-27 Robert J. McCann , Kelvin Shuangjian Zhang

This brief note considers the problem of learning with dynamic-optimizing principal-agent setting, in which the agents are allowed to have global perspectives about the learning process, i.e., the ability to view things according to their…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2026-01-12 Getachew K. Befekadu

We study a dynamic contracting problem with multiple agents and limited commitment. A principal seeks to screen efficient agents using one-period contracts, but is tempted to revise contract terms upon knowing an agent's type. Alterations…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-03-24 Mehmet Ekmekci , Lucas Maestri , Dong Wei

We study a simple problem of allocating common-value goods. The designer seeks to allocate the goods to as many unit-demand agents as possible without monetary transfers, while agents, who possess partial private information about the…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-04-22 Hiroto Sato , Ryo Shirakawa

Roommate problems with convex preferences always have stable matchings. Efficiency and individual rationality are, moreover, compatible with strategyproofness in such convex roommate problems. Both of these results fail without the…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-04-01 Sophie Bade

In this paper, we consider the revealed preferences problem from a learning perspective. Every day, a price vector and a budget is drawn from an unknown distribution, and a rational agent buys his most preferred bundle according to some…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-11-20 Morteza Zadimoghaddam , Aaron Roth

A principal contracts with an agent who sequentially searches over projects to generate a prize. The principal initially knows only one of the agent's available projects and evaluates a contract by its worst-case performance. We…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-09-17 Théo Durandard , Udayan Vaidya , Boli Xu

Positive systems describing networks with inherently non-negative states and inputs arise naturally in routing, logistics, and compartmental modelling. We consider problems modelled as positive linear systems in incidence form with linear…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-05-28 Roland Schurig , David Ohlin , Anders Rantzer , Emma Tegling , Rolf Findeisen

A principal has $m$ identical objects to allocate among a group of $n$ agents. Objects are desirable and the principal's value of assigning an object to an agent is the agent's private information. The principal can verify up to $k$ agents,…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-09-04 Albin Erlanson , Andreas Kleiner