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Related papers: Multi-Agent Contracts

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A contract is an economic tool used by a principal to incentivize one or more agents to exert effort on her behalf, by defining payments based on observable performance measures. A key challenge addressed by contracts -- known in economics…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-12-24 Paul Duetting , Michal Feldman , Inbal Talgam-Cohen

We study a Bayesian contract design problem in which a principal interacts with an unknown agent. We consider the single-parameter uncertainty model introduced by Alon et al. [2021], in which the agent's type is described by a single…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-02-21 Martino Bernasconi , Matteo Castiglioni , Andrea Celli

In this paper we study a principal-agent problem in continuous time with multiple lump-sum payments (contracts) paid at different deterministic times. We reduce the non-zero sum Stackelberg game between the principal and agent to a standard…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-11-08 Guillermo Alonso Alvarez , Erhan Bayraktar , Ibrahim Ekren , Liwei Huang

We study principal-agent problems in which a principal commits to an outcome-dependent payment scheme (a.k.a. contract) so as to induce an agent to take a costly, unobservable action. We relax the assumption that the principal perfectly…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-06-02 Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi , Nicola Gatti

Maximizing a single submodular set function subject to a cardinality constraint is a well-studied and central topic in combinatorial optimization. However, finding a set that maximizes multiple functions at the same time is much less…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2025-05-16 Fabian Spaeh , Atsushi Miyauchi

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

Inferring reward functions from demonstrations is a key challenge in reinforcement learning (RL), particularly in multi-agent RL (MARL), where large joint state-action spaces and complex inter-agent interactions complicate the task. While…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-02-03 The Viet Bui , Tien Mai , Hong Thanh Nguyen

A practical challenge in reinforcement learning are combinatorial action spaces that make planning computationally demanding. For example, in cooperative multi-agent reinforcement learning, a potentially large number of agents jointly…

We consider an outsourcing problem where a software agent procures multiple services from providers with uncertain reliabilities to complete a computational task before a strict deadline. The service consumer requires a procurement strategy…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-10-26 Farzaneh Farhadi , Maria Chli , Nicholas R. Jennings

We study truthful mechanisms for approximating the Maximin-Share (MMS) allocation of agents with additive valuations for indivisible goods. Algorithmically, constant factor approximations exist for the problem for any number of agents. When…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-06-12 Ilan Reuven Cohen , Alon Eden , Talya Eden , Arsen Vasilyan

In this paper we study the approximate learnability of valuations commonly used throughout economics and game theory for the quantitative encoding of agent preferences. We provide upper and lower bounds regarding the learnability of…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2011-09-05 Maria Florina Balcan , Florin Constantin , Satoru Iwata , Lei Wang

In this paper, we investigate a class of submodular problems which in general are very hard. These include minimizing a submodular cost function under combinatorial constraints, which include cuts, matchings, paths, etc., optimizing a…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2019-02-28 Rishabh Iyer , Jeff Bilmes

Recent years have seen many algorithmic advances in the area of submodular optimization: (SO) $\min/\max~f(S): S \in \mathcal{F}$, where $\mathcal{F}$ is a given family of feasible sets over a ground set $V$ and $f:2^V \rightarrow…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-08-23 Richard Santiago , F. Bruce Shepherd

A principal provides nondiscriminatory incentives for independent and identical agents. The principal cannot observe the agents' actions, nor does she know the entire set of actions available to them. It is shown, very generally, that any…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-01-31 Ashwin Kambhampati

Bid optimization for online advertising from single advertiser's perspective has been thoroughly investigated in both academic research and industrial practice. However, existing work typically assume competitors do not change their bids,…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2021-06-09 Ziyu Guan , Hongchang Wu , Qingyu Cao , Hao Liu , Wei Zhao , Sheng Li , Cai Xu , Guang Qiu , Jian Xu , Bo Zheng

Ranking is fundamental to many areas, such as search engine optimization, human feedback for language models, as well as peer grading. Crowdsourcing, which is often used for these tasks, requires proper incentivization to ensure accurate…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-01-26 Kiriaki Frangias , Andrew Lin , Ellen Vitercik , Manolis Zampetakis

In multi-agent reinforcement learning systems, the actions of one agent can have a negative impact on the rewards of other agents. One way to combat this problem is to let agents trade their rewards amongst each other. Motivated by this,…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2022-07-25 Michael Kölle , Lennart Rietdorf , Kyrill Schmid

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 principal-agent problems where a farsighted agent takes costly actions in an MDP. The core challenge in these settings is that agent's actions are hidden to the principal, who can only observe their outcomes, namely state…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-18 Matteo Bollini , Francesco Bacchiocchi , Matteo Castiglioni , Alberto Marchesi , Nicola Gatti

Many real-life contractual relations differ completely from the clean, static model at the heart of principal-agent theory. Typically, they involve repeated strategic interactions of the principal and agent, taking place under uncertainty…