English
Related papers

Related papers: Contract Design Under Approximate Best Responses

200 papers

We study a generic principal-agent problem in continuous time on a finite time horizon. We introduce a framework in which the agent is allowed to employ measure-valued controls and characterise the continuation utility as a solution to a…

Probability · Mathematics 2025-12-01 Daniel Kršek , Dylan Possamaï

This paper considers a network of agents, where each agent is assumed to take actions optimally with respect to a predefined payoff function involving the latest actions of the agent's neighbors. Neighborhood relationships stem from payoff…

Dynamical Systems · Mathematics 2021-01-19 Sadegh Arefizadeh , Sadjaad Ozgoli , Sadegh Bolouki , Tamer Başar

This paper studies a class of strongly monotone games involving non-cooperative agents that optimize their own time-varying cost functions. We assume that the agents can observe other agents' historical actions and choose actions that best…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-09-04 Zifan Wang , Yi Shen , Michael M. Zavlanos , Karl H. Johansson

We show that in delegation problems, a principal benefits from belief misalignment vis-\`a-vis an agent when the latter can flexibly acquire costly information. The agent optimally succumbs to confirmatory learning, leading him to favor the…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-07-30 Pavel Ilinov , Andrei Matveenko , Maxim Senkov , Egor Starkov

We consider a general formulation of the random horizon Principal-Agent problem with a continuous payment and a lump-sum payment at termination. In the European version of the problem, the random horizon is chosen solely by the principal…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-11 Yiqing Lin , Zhenjie Ren , Nizar Touzi , Junjian Yang

We are considering the problem of optimal portfolio delegation between an investor and a portfolio manager under a random default time. We focus on a novel variation of the Principal-Agent problem adapted to this framework. We address the…

Mathematical Finance · Quantitative Finance 2024-10-18 Alberto Gennaro , Thibaut Mastrolia

In this work, we introduce and study contextual search in general principal-agent games, where a principal repeatedly interacts with agents by offering contracts based on contextual information and historical feedback, without knowing the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-10-22 Yiding Feng , Mengfan Ma , Bo Peng , Zongqi Wan

We study the optimal design of electricity contracts among a population of consumers with different needs. This question is tackled within the framework of Principal-Agent problems in presence of adverse selection. The particular features…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2019-09-17 Clémence Alasseur , Ivar Ekeland , Romuald Elie , Nicolás Hernández Santibáñez , Dylan Possamaï

In this paper, we investigate a moral hazard problem in finite time with lump$-$sum and continuous payments, involving infinitely many Agents with mean field type interactions, hired by one Principal. By reinterpreting the mean$-$field game…

Probability · Mathematics 2018-02-27 Romuald Elie , Thibaut Mastrolia , Dylan Possamaï

Prior work has studied the computational complexity of computing optimal strategies to commit to in Stackelberg or leadership games, where a leader commits to a strategy which is observed by one or more followers. We extend this setting to…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-22 Nathaniel Sauerberg , Caspar Oesterheld

We introduce a novel problem setting for algorithmic contract design, named the principal-MARL contract design problem. This setting extends traditional contract design to account for dynamic and stochastic environments using Markov Games…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2024-08-20 David Molina Concha , Kyeonghyeon Park , Hyun-Rok Lee , Taesik Lee , Chi-Guhn Lee

This paper studies algorithmic decision-making under human's strategic behavior, where a decision maker uses an algorithm to make decisions about human agents, and the latter with information about the algorithm may exert effort…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-09-16 Tian Xie , Xuwei Tan , Xueru Zhang

A principal uses payments conditioned on stochastic outcomes of a team project to elicit costly effort from the team members. We develop a multi-agent generalization of a classic first-order approach to contract optimization by leveraging…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-03-13 Krishna Dasaratha , Benjamin Golub , Anant Shah

In this paper, we introduce a generalization of the standard Stackelberg Games (SGs) framework: Calibrated Stackelberg Games (CSGs). In CSGs, a principal repeatedly interacts with an agent who (contrary to standard SGs) does not have direct…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2023-06-07 Nika Haghtalab , Chara Podimata , Kunhe Yang

In this paper, we address three Principal--Agent problems in a moral hazard context and show that they are connected. We start by studying the problem of Principal with multiple Agents in cooperation. The term cooperation is manifested here…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-10-23 Mao Fabrice Djete

Consider a principal who wants to search through a space of stochastic solutions for one maximizing their utility. If the principal cannot conduct this search on their own, they may instead delegate this problem to an agent with distinct…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-11-04 Curtis Bechtel , Shaddin Dughmi

We study preference learning through recommendations in multi-agent game settings, where a moderator repeatedly interacts with agents whose utility functions are unknown. In each round, the moderator issues action recommendations and…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-03-06 Arwa Alanqary , Zakaria Baba , Manxi Wu , Alexandre M. Bayen

We study Bayesian automated mechanism design in unstructured dynamic environments, where a principal repeatedly interacts with an agent, and takes actions based on the strategic agent's report of the current state of the world. Both the…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2021-05-14 Hanrui Zhang , Vincent Conitzer

One obstacle to applying reinforcement learning algorithms to real-world problems is the lack of suitable reward functions. Designing such reward functions is difficult in part because the user only has an implicit understanding of the task…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2018-11-20 Jan Leike , David Krueger , Tom Everitt , Miljan Martic , Vishal Maini , Shane Legg

We study the principal-agent problem with a third party that we call social planner, whose responsibility is to reconcile the conflicts of interest between the two players and induce socially optimal outcome in terms of some given social…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-11-07 Shiyun Lin , Zhihua Zhang