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This paper investigates the two-person zero-sum stochastic games for piece-wise deterministic Markov decision processes with risk-sensitive finite-horizon cost criterion on a general state space. Here, the transition and cost/reward rates…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-05-15 Subrata Golui

This paper focuses on the role of a government of a large population of interacting agents as a mean field optimal control problem derived from deterministic finite agent dynamics. The control problems are constrained by a PDE of…

Analysis of PDEs · Mathematics 2020-11-17 Massimo Fornasier , Stefano Lisini , Carlo Orrieri , Giuseppe Savaré

We introduce a new model of combinatorial contracts in which a principal delegates the execution of a costly task to an agent. To complete the task, the agent can take any subset of a given set of unobservable actions, each of which has an…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-09-03 Paul Duetting , Tomer Ezra , Michal Feldman , Thomas Kesselheim

This paper studies linear stochastic approximation (SA) algorithms and their application to multi-agent systems in engineering and sociology. As main contribution, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions for convergence of linear SA…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-09-07 Ge Chen , Xiaoming Duan , Wenjun Mei , Francesco Bullo

We consider an infinite horizon portfolio problem with borrowing constraints, in which an agent receives labor income which adjusts to financial market shocks in a path dependent way. This path-dependency is the novelty of the model, and…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-02-04 Enrico Biffis , Fausto Gozzi , Cecilia Prosdocimi

We investigate the existence of an optimal policy to monitor a mean field systems of agents managing a risky project under moral hazard with accidents modeled by L\'evy processes magnified by the law of the project. We provide a general…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-07-25 Thibaut Mastrolia , Jiacheng Zhang

Generalising the idea of the classical EM algorithm that is widely used for computing maximum likelihood estimates, we propose an EM-Control (EM-C) algorithm for solving multi-period finite time horizon stochastic control problems. The new…

Economics · Quantitative Finance 2016-11-08 Steven Kou , Xianhua Peng , Xingbo Xu

We study the fundamental problem of designing contracts in principal-agent problems under uncertainty. Previous works mostly addressed Bayesian settings in which principal's uncertainty is modeled as a probability distribution over agent's…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-02-22 Martino Bernasconi , Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi

The behaviour of a stochastic dynamical system may be largely influenced by those low-probability, yet extreme events. To address such occurrences, this paper proposes an infinite-horizon risk-constrained Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR)…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-03-30 Feiran Zhao , Keyou You , Tamer Basar

Hierarchical Reinforcement Learning (HRL) approaches have shown successful results in solving a large variety of complex, structured, long-horizon problems. Nevertheless, a full theoretical understanding of this empirical evidence is…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-05 Gianluca Drappo , Alberto Maria Metelli , Marcello Restelli

We analyze the stability of general nonlinear discrete-time stochastic systems controlled by optimal inputs that minimize an infinite-horizon discounted cost. Under a novel stochastic formulation of cost-controllability and detectability…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-30 Robert H. Moldenhauer , Dragan Nešić , Mathieu Granzotto , Romain Postoyan , Andrew R. Teel

We consider finite and infinite horizon dynamic programming problems, where the control at each stage consists of several distinct decisions, each one made by one of several agents. We introduce an approach, whereby at every stage, each…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-04-15 Dimitri Bertsekas

In this work, we investigate the optimal control problem for continuous-time Markov decision processes with the random impact of the environment. We provide conditions to show the existence of optimal controls under finite-horizon criteria.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-06-23 Jinghai Shao , Kun Zhao

We consider deterministic infinite horizon optimal control problems with nonnegative stage costs. We draw inspiration from learning model predictive control scheme designed for continuous dynamics and iterative tasks, and propose a rollout…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-09-30 Yuchao Li , Karl H. Johansson , Jonas Mårtensson , Dimitri P. Bertsekas

We investigate the problem of persistently monitoring a finite set of targets with internal states that evolve with linear stochastic dynamics using a finite set of mobile agents. We approach the problem from the infinite-horizon…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2019-10-01 Samuel C. Pinto , Sean B. Andersson , Julien M. Hendrickx , Christos G. Cassandras

Experiments in predator-prey systems show the emergence of long-term cycles. Deterministic model typically fails in capturing these behaviors, which emerge from the microscopic interplay of individual based dynamics and stochastic effects.…

Numerical Analysis · Mathematics 2022-03-03 Giacomo Albi , Roberto Chignola , Federica Ferrarese

A continuous-time Markowitz's mean-variance portfolio selection problem is studied in a market with one stock, one bond, and proportional transaction costs. This is a singular stochastic control problem,inherently in a finite time horizon.…

Portfolio Management · Quantitative Finance 2022-01-07 Min Dai , Zuo Quan Xu , Xun Yu Zhou

A general problem in optimal control consists of finding a terminal reward that makes the value function independent of the horizon. Such a terminal reward can be interpreted as a max-plus eigenvector of the associated Lax-Oleinik…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2007-12-05 Marianne Akian , Stephane Gaubert , Cormac Walsh

We introduce an infinite-horizon, continuous-time portfolio selection problem faced by an agent with periodic S-shaped preference and present bias. The inclusion of a quasi-hyperbolic discount function leads to time-inconsistency and we…

Portfolio Management · Quantitative Finance 2024-10-25 Yushi Hamaguchi , Alex S. L. Tse

In this paper, we investigate an interesting and important stopping problem mixed with stochastic controls and a \textit{nonsmooth} utility over a finite time horizon. The paper aims to develop new methodologies, which are significantly…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2015-07-06 Chonghu Guan , Xun Li , Zuoquan Xu , Fahuai Yi