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Federated learning protects users' data privacy through sharing users' local model parameters (instead of raw data) with a server. However, when massive users train a large machine learning model through federated learning, the dynamically…

Networking and Internet Architecture · Computer Science 2023-10-02 Ningning Ding , Lin Gao , Jianwei Huang

In programmatic advertising, ad slots are usually sold using second-price (SP) auctions in real-time. The highest bidding advertiser wins but pays only the second-highest bid (known as the winning price). In SP, for a single item, the…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2020-01-22 Aritra Ghosh , Saayan Mitra , Somdeb Sarkhel , Jason Xie , Gang Wu , Viswanathan Swaminathan

In contemporary digital markets, personal data often reveals not just isolated traits, but complex, intersectional identities based on combinations of race, gender, disability, and other protected characteristics. This exposure generates a…

Information Theory · Computer Science 2025-07-22 Eduardo C. Garrido-Merchán

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

We study a class of iterative combinatorial auctions which can be viewed as subgradient descent methods for the problem of pricing bundles to balance supply and demand. We provide concrete convergence rates for auctions in this class,…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2016-06-01 Jacob Abernethy , Sébastien Lahaie , Matus Telgarsky

There has been substantial recent concern that pricing algorithms might learn to ``collude.'' Supra-competitive prices can emerge as a Nash equilibrium of repeated pricing games, in which sellers play strategies which threaten to punish…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-12-17 Eshwar Ram Arunachaleswaran , Natalie Collina , Sampath Kannan , Aaron Roth , Juba Ziani

A seller offers a buyer a schedule of transfers and associated product qualities. After observing this schedule, the buyer chooses a flexible costly signal about his type. We show it is without loss to focus on a class of mechanisms that…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-02-20 Jeffrey Mensch , Doron Ravid

We study dynamic reputation in a social-learning environment where only purchase decisions are observable. A long-lived seller posts a fixed price and chooses costly product quality in each period before interacting with short-lived buyers…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2025-11-18 Georgy Lukyanov , Konstantin Shamruk , Ekaterina Logina

Platform giants in China have operated with persistently compressed margins in highly concentrated markets for much of the past decade, despite market shares exceeding 60\% in core segments. Standard theory predicts otherwise: either the…

Theoretical Economics · Economics 2026-01-23 Liang Chen

In a traffic network, vehicles normally select their routes selfishly. Consequently, traffic networks normally operate at an equilibrium characterized by Wardrop conditions. However, it is well known that equilibria are inefficient in…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2019-04-03 Negar Mehr , Roberto Horowitz

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

We consider an environment where sellers compete over buyers. All sellers are a-priori identical and strategically signal buyers about the product they sell. In a setting motivated by on-line advertising in display ad exchanges, where firms…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2012-03-30 Gleb Polevoy , Rann Smorodinsky , Moshe Tennenholtz

Digital advertising platforms operate millisecond-level auctions through Real-Time Bidding (RTB) systems, where advertisers compete for ad impressions through algorithmic bids. This dynamic mechanism enables precise audience targeting but…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-08-11 Pusen Dong , Chenglong Cao , Xinyu Zhou , Jirong You , Linhe Xu , Feifan Xu , Shuo Yuan

The rise of algorithmic pricing in online retail platforms has attracted significant interest in how autonomous software agents interact under competition. This article explores the potential emergence of algorithmic collusion -…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2025-04-24 Martin Bichler , Julius Durmann , Matthias Oberlechner

Feature selection can facilitate the learning of mixtures of discrete random variables as they arise, e.g. in crowdsourcing tasks. Intuitively, not all workers are equally reliable but, if the less reliable ones could be eliminated, then…

Machine Learning · Statistics 2017-11-28 Vincent Zhao , Steven W. Zucker

We consider the question of whether collusion among bidders (a "bidding ring") can be supported in equilibrium of unrepeated first-price auctions. Unlike previous work on the topic such as that by McAfee and McMillan [1992] and Marshall and…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2016-08-31 Kevin Leyton-Brown , Moshe Tennenholtz , Navin Bhat , Yoav Shoham

Bid shading has become a standard practice in the digital advertising industry, in which most auctions for advertising (ad) opportunities are now of first price type. Given an ad opportunity, performing bid shading requires estimating not…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2024-10-22 Yanlin Qu , Ravi Kant , Yan Chen , Brendan Kitts , San Gultekin , Aaron Flores , Jose Blanchet

The use of dynamic pricing by profit-maximizing firms gives rise to demand fairness concerns, measured by discrepancies in consumer groups' demand responses to a given pricing strategy. Notably, dynamic pricing may result in buyer…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2024-04-24 Jesse Thibodeau , Hadi Nekoei , Afaf Taïk , Janarthanan Rajendran , Golnoosh Farnadi

In cross-silo federated learning, clients (e.g., organizations) train a shared global model using local data. However, due to privacy concerns, the clients may not contribute enough data points during training. To address this issue, we…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2022-10-17 Chao Huang , Shuqi Ke , Charles Kamhoua , Prasant Mohapatra , Xin Liu

This paper considers a combination of intelligent repositioning decisions and dynamic pricing for the improved operation of shared mobility systems. The approach is applied to London's Barclays Cycle Hire scheme, which the authors have…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2014-04-29 Julius Pfrommer , Joseph Warrington , Georg Schildbach , Manfred Morari