English
Related papers

Related papers: Learning and Collusion in Multi-unit Auctions

200 papers

Two issues of algorithmic collusion are addressed in this paper. First, we show that in a general class of symmetric games, including Prisoner's Dilemma, Bertrand competition, and any (nonlinear) mixture of first and second price auction,…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2024-09-05 Zhang Xu , Wei Zhao

Motivated by the dynamic assortment offerings and item pricings occurring in e-commerce, we study a general problem of allocating finite inventories to heterogeneous customers arriving sequentially. We analyze this problem under the…

Data Structures and Algorithms · Computer Science 2019-05-14 Will Ma , David Simchi-Levi

A matching platform is a system that matches different types of participants, such as companies and job-seekers. In such a platform, merely maximizing the number of matches can result in matches being concentrated on highly popular…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-03-10 Yuki Shibukawa , Koichi Tanaka , Yuta Saito , Shinji Ito

A prevalent assumption in auction theory is that the auctioneer has full control over the market and that the allocation she dictates is final. In practice, however, agents might be able to resell acquired items in an aftermarket. A…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2022-11-17 Moshe Babaioff , Nicole Immorlica , Yingkai Li , Brendan Lucier

Algorithmic agents are used in a variety of competitive decision-making settings, including pricing contexts that range from online retail to residential home rental. We study the emergence of algorithmic collusion when competing agents…

General Economics · Economics 2026-03-10 Connor Douglas , Foster Provost , Arun Sundararajan

In combinatorial auctions, a designer must decide how to allocate a set of indivisible items amongst a set of bidders. Each bidder has a valuation function which gives the utility they obtain from any subset of the items. Our focus is…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-03-31 Shaddin Dughmi , Bryan Wilder

We consider a dynamic mechanism design problem where an auctioneer sells an indivisible good to groups of buyers in every round, for a total of $T$ rounds. The auctioneer aims to maximize their discounted overall revenue while adhering to a…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-04 Alireza Fallah , Michael I. Jordan , Annie Ulichney

We study revenue optimization learning algorithms for repeated posted-price auctions where a seller interacts with a single strategic buyer that holds a fixed private valuation for a good and seeks to maximize his cumulative discounted…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2018-02-09 Alexey Drutsa

Motivated by online retail, we consider the problem of selling one item (e.g., an ad slot) to two non-excludable buyers (say, a merchant and a brand). This problem captures, for example, situations where a merchant and a brand cooperatively…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-05-26 Gagan Aggarwal , Ashwinkumar Badanidiyuru , Paul Dütting , Federico Fusco

We study a demand response problem from utility (also referred to as operator)'s perspective with realistic settings, in which the utility faces uncertainty and limited communication. Specifically, the utility does not know the cost…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2017-08-11 Pan Li , Hao Wang , Baosen Zhang

This letter considers the design of an auction mechanism to sell the object of a seller when the buyers quantize their private value estimates regarding the object prior to communicating them to the seller. The designed auction mechanism…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2016-11-03 Nianxia Cao , Swastik Brahma , Pramod K. Varshney

In the rapidly evolving landscape of eCommerce, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based pricing algorithms, particularly those utilizing Reinforcement Learning (RL), are becoming increasingly prevalent. This rise has led to an inextricable…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-06-06 Michael Schlechtinger , Damaris Kosack , Franz Krause , Heiko Paulheim

Auction-based Federated Learning (AFL) enables open collaboration among self-interested data consumers and data owners. Existing AFL approaches are commonly under the assumption of sellers' market in that the service clients as sellers are…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-09-12 Jiaxi Yang , Zihao Guo , Sheng Cao , Cuifang Zhao , Li-Chuan Tsai

Online auctions play a central role in online advertising, and are one of the main reasons for the industry's scalability and growth. With great changes in how auctions are being organized, such as changing the second- to first-price…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2020-09-04 Djordje Gligorijevic , Tian Zhou , Bharatbhushan Shetty , Brendan Kitts , Shengjun Pan , Junwei Pan , Aaron Flores

We propose a machine learning method to solve a mean-field game price formation model with common noise. This involves determining the price of a commodity traded among rational agents subject to a market clearing condition imposed by…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-05-30 Diogo Gomes , Julian Gutierrez , Mathieu Laurière

This paper explores the integration of strategic optimization methods in search advertising, focusing on ad ranking and bidding mechanisms within E-commerce platforms. By employing a combination of reinforcement learning and evolutionary…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-05-30 Chang Zhou , Yang Zhao , Jin Cao , Yi Shen , Xiaoling Cui , Chiyu Cheng

Online bidding is a classic optimization problem, with several applications in online decision-making, the design of interruptible systems, and the analysis of approximation algorithms. In this work, we study online bidding under…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-10-30 Spyros Angelopoulos , Bertrand Simon

We investigate brokerage between traders from an online learning perspective. At any round $t$, two traders arrive with their private valuations, and the broker proposes a trading price. Unlike other bilateral trade problems already studied…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-10-19 Nataša Bolić , Tommaso Cesari , Roberto Colomboni

Artificial intelligence algorithms are increasingly used by firms to set prices. Previous research shows that they can exhibit collusive behaviour, but how quickly they can do so has so far remained an open question. I show that a modern…

General Economics · Economics 2026-04-20 Kevin Michael Frick

Online auctions have expanded rapidly over the last decade and have become a fascinating new type of business or commercial transaction in this digital era. Here we introduce a master equation for the bidding process that takes place in…

Physics and Society · Physics 2009-11-11 I. Yang , B. Kahng