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In distributionally robust optimization the probability distribution of the uncertain problem parameters is itself uncertain, and a fictitious adversary, e.g., nature, chooses the worst distribution from within a known ambiguity set. A…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-05-10 Etienne de Klerk , Daniel Kuhn , Krzysztof Postek

We study a principal-agent problem with adverse selection, where the principal does not know the agent's true cost but must design a contract to optimize a specific criterion. Unlike standard screening frameworks that allow for…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-05-19 Guillermo Alonso Alvarez , Ibrahim Ekren , Liwei Huang

Motivated by the emergence of decentralized machine learning (ML) ecosystems, we study the delegation of data collection. Taking the field of contract theory as our starting point, we design optimal and near-optimal contracts that deal with…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-11-21 Nivasini Ananthakrishnan , Stephen Bates , Michael I. Jordan , Nika Haghtalab

We study the design of resilient and reliable communication networks in which a signal can be transferred only up to a limited distance before its quality falls below an acceptable threshold. When excessive signal degradation occurs,…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-02-13 Mohammad Khosravi , Setareh Maghsudi

This paper studies the problem of distributionally robust model predictive control (MPC) using total variation distance ambiguity sets. For a discrete-time linear system with additive disturbances, we provide a conditional value-at-risk…

Systems and Control · Electrical Eng. & Systems 2022-06-27 Anushri Dixit , Mohamadreza Ahmadi , Joel W. Burdick

We consider a principal who wishes to screen an agent with \emph{discrete} types by offering a menu of \emph{discrete} quantities and \emph{discrete} transfers. We assume that the principal's valuation is discrete strictly concave and use a…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-10-27 Alejandro Francetich , Burkhard C. Schipper

In this paper we wish to tackle stochastic programs affected by ambiguity about the probability law that governs their uncertain parameters. Using optimal transport theory, we construct an ambiguity set that exploits the knowledge about the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-06-15 Adrián Esteban-Pérez , Juan M. Morales

Recent technology advances have enabled firms to flexibly process and analyze sophisticated employee performance data at a reduced and yet significant cost. We develop a theory of optimal incentive contracting where the monitoring…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2019-11-22 Anqi Li , Ming Yang

We investigate the distributed online economic dispatch problem for power systems with time-varying coupled inequality constraints. The problem is formulated as a distributed online optimization problem in a multi-agent system. At each time…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-12-25 Yingjie Zhou , Xiaoqian Wang , Tao Li

Robust optimization methods have shown practical advantages in a wide range of decision-making applications under uncertainty. Recently, their efficacy has been extended to multi-period settings. Current approaches model uncertainty either…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2022-02-23 Omid Nohadani , Kartikey Sharma

Dybvig (1988a,b) solves in a complete market setting the problem of finding a payoff that is cheapest possible in reaching a given target distribution ("cost-efficient payoff"). In the presence of ambiguity, the distribution of a payoff is,…

Portfolio Management · Quantitative Finance 2023-08-11 Carole Bernard , Gero Junike , Thibaut Lux , Steven Vanduffel

Motivated by applications where a system must remain operational via continual procurement of contracts, we study two online contract selection problems under uncertain prices. At each time step, a price drawn from a known distribution is…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2026-05-19 Qinge Chi , Sebastian Perez-Salazar

This paper provides a non-robust interpretation of the distributionally robust optimization (DRO) problem by relating the distributional uncertainties to the chance probabilities. Our analysis allows a decision-maker to interpret the size…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-09-22 Qi Wu , Shumin Ma , Cheuk Hang Leung , Wei Liu , Nanbo Peng

The cross-dock door design problem consists of deciding the strip and stack doors and nominal capacity of an entity under uncertainty. Inbound commodity flow from origin nodes is assigned to the strip doors, it is consolidated in the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-06-03 Laureano F. Escudero , M. Araceli Garín , Aitziber Unzueta

We consider a problem of placing generators of rewards to be collected by randomly moving agents in a network. In many settings, the precise mobility pattern may be one of several possible, based on parameters outside our control, such as…

Multiagent Systems · Computer Science 2024-06-04 Petros Petsinis , Kaichen Zhang , Andreas Pavlogiannis , Jingbo Zhou , Panagiotis Karras

We consider the problem of Adverse Selection and optimal derivative design within a Principal-Agent framework. The principal's income is exposed to non-hedgeable risk factors arising, for instance, from weather or climate phenomena. She…

Computational Engineering, Finance, and Science · Computer Science 2007-10-31 U. Horst , S. Moreno

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

Motivated by applications such as cloud platforms allocating GPUs to users or governments deploying mobile health units across competing regions, we study the dynamic allocation of a reusable resource to strategic agents with private…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-07-15 Yan Dai , Negin Golrezaei , Patrick Jaillet

In a framework close to the one developed by Holmstr\"om and Milgrom [44], we study the optimal contracting scheme between a Principal and several Agents. Each hired Agent is in charge of one project, and can make efforts towards managing…

Economics · Quantitative Finance 2016-05-27 Romuald Elie , Dylan Possamaï

Robust planning in interactive scenarios requires predicting the uncertain future to make risk-aware decisions. Unfortunately, due to long-tail safety-critical events, the risk is often under-estimated by finite-sampling approximations of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-13 Haruki Nishimura , Jean Mercat , Blake Wulfe , Rowan McAllister , Adrien Gaidon