A Logic-Based Representation for Coalitional Games with Externalities

We consider the issue of representing coalitional games in multiagent systems that exhibit externalities from coalition formation, i.e., systems in which the gain from forming a coalition may be affected by the formation of other co-existing coalitions. Although externalities play a key role in many real-life situations, very little attention has been given to this issue in the multi-agent system literature, especially with regard to the computational aspects involved. To this end, we propose a new representation which, in the spirit of Ieong and Shoham [9], is based on Boolean expressions. The idea behind our representation is to construct much richer expressions that allow for capturing externalities induced upon coalitions. We show that the new representation is fully expressive, at least as concise as the conventional partition function game representation and, for many games, exponentially more concise. We evaluate the efficiency of our new representation by considering the problem of computing the Extended and Generalized Shapley value, a powerful extension of the conventional Shapley value to games with externalities. We show that by using our new representation, the Extended and Generalized Shapley value, which has not been studied in the computer science literature to date, can be computed in time linear in the size of the input

Learning Cooperative Games

This paper explores a PAC (probably approximately correct) learning model in cooperative games. Specifically, we are given $m$ random samples of coalitions and their values, taken from some unknown cooperative game; can we predict the values of unseen coalitions? We study the PAC learnability of several well-known classes of cooperative games, such as network flow games, threshold task games, and induced subgraph games. We also establish a novel connection between PAC learnability and core stability: for games that are efficiently learnable, it is possible to find payoff divisions that are likely to be stable using a polynomial number of samples.Comment: accepted to IJCAI 201

Cooperative Games with Overlapping Coalitions

In the usual models of cooperative game theory, the outcome of a coalition formation process is either the grand coalition or a coalition structure that consists of disjoint coalitions. However, in many domains where coalitions are associated with tasks, an agent may be involved in executing more than one task, and thus may distribute his resources among several coalitions. To tackle such scenarios, we introduce a model for cooperative games with overlapping coalitions--or overlapping coalition formation (OCF) games. We then explore the issue of stability in this setting. In particular, we introduce a notion of the core, which generalizes the corresponding notion in the traditional (non-overlapping) scenario. Then, under some quite general conditions, we characterize the elements of the core, and show that any element of the core maximizes the social welfare. We also introduce a concept of balancedness for overlapping coalitional games, and use it to characterize coalition structures that can be extended to elements of the core. Finally, we generalize the notion of convexity to our setting, and show that under some natural assumptions convex games have a non-empty core. Moreover, we introduce two alternative notions of stability in OCF that allow a wider range of deviations, and explore the relationships among the corresponding definitions of the core, as well as the classic (non-overlapping) core and the Aubin core. We illustrate the general properties of the three cores, and also study them from a computational perspective, thus obtaining additional insights into their fundamental structure

Bounds on the Cost of Stabilizing a Cooperative Game

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the AI Access Foundation via the DOI in this record.A key issue in cooperative game theory is coalitional stability, usually captured by the notion of the core—the set of outcomes that are resistant to group deviations. However, some coalitional games have empty cores, and any outcome in such a game is unstable. We investigate the possibility of stabilizing a coalitional game by using subsidies. We consider scenarios where an external party that is interested in having the players work together offers a supplemental payment to the grand coalition, or, more generally, a particular coalition structure. This payment is conditional on players not deviating from this coalition structure, and may be divided among the players in any way they wish. We define the cost of stability as the minimum external payment that stabilizes the game. We provide tight bounds on the cost of stability, both for games where the coalitional values are nonnegative (profit-sharing games) and for games where the coalitional values are nonpositive (cost-sharing games), under natural assumptions on the characteristic function, such as superadditivity, anonymity, or both. We also investigate the relationship between the cost of stability and several variants of the least core. Finally, we study the computational complexity of problems related to the cost of stability, with a focus on weighted voting games.DFGEuropean Science FoundationNRF (Singapore)European Research CouncilHorizon 2020 European Research Infrastructure projectIsrael Science FoundationIsrael Ministry of Science and TechnologyGoogle Inter-University Center for Electronic Markets and AuctionsEuropean Social Fund (European Commission)Calabria Regio

Mixed-integer programming representation for symmetrical partition function form games

In contexts involving multiple agents (players), determining how they can cooperate through the formation of coalitions and how they can share surplus benefits coming from the collaboration is crucial. This can provide decision-aid to players and analysis tools for policy makers regulating economic markets. Such settings belong to the field of cooperative game theory. A critical element in this area has been the size of the representation of these games: for each possible partition of players, the value of each coalition on it must be provided. Symmetric partition function form games (SPFGs) belong to a class of cooperative games with two important characteristics. First, they account for externalities provoked by any group of players joining forces or splitting into subsets on the remaining coalitions of players. Second, they consider that players are indistinct, meaning that only the number of players in each coalition is relevant for the SPFG. Using mixed-integer programming, we present the first representation of SPFGs that is polynomial on the number of players in the game. We also characterize the family of SPFGs that we can represent. In particular, the representation is able to encode exactly all SPFGs with five players or less. Furthermore, we provide a compact representation approximating SPFGs when there are six players or more and the SPFG cannot be represented exactly. We also introduce a flexible framework that uses stability methods inspired from the literature to identify a stable social-welfare maximizing game outcome using our representation. We showcase the value of our compact (approximated) representation and approach to determine a stable partition and payoff allocation to a competitive market from the literature.Dans tout contexte impliquant plusieurs agents (joueurs), il est impératif de déterminer comment les agents coopéreront par la formation de coalitions et comment ils partageront les bénéfices supplémentaires issus de la collaboration. Ceci peut fournir une aide à la décision aux joueurs, ou encore des outils d'analyse pour les responsables en charge de réguler les marchés économiques. De telles situations relèvent de la théorie des jeux coopérative. Un élément crucial de ce domaine est la taille de la représentation de ces jeux : pour chaque partition de joueurs possible, la valeur de chaque coalition qu'on y retrouve doit être donnée. Les jeux symétriques à fonction de partition (SPFG) appartiennent à une classe de jeux coopératifs possédant deux caractéristiques principales. Premièrement, ils sont sensibles aux externalités, provoquées par n'importe quel groupe de joueurs qui s'allient ou défont leurs alliances, qui sont ressenties par les autres coalitions de joueurs. Deuxièmement, ils considèrent que les joueurs sont indistincts, et donc que seul le nombre de joueurs dans chaque coalition est à retenir pour représenter un SPFG. Par l'utilisation d'outils de programmation mixte en nombres entiers, nous présentons la première représentation de SPFG qui est polynomiale en nombre de joueurs dans le jeu. De surcroît, nous caractérisons la famille des SPFG qu'il est possible de représenter, qui inclut notamment tous les SPFG de cinq joueurs ou moins. De plus, elle dispose d'une approximation compacte pour le cas où, dans un jeu à six joueurs ou plus, le SPFG ne peut pas être représenté de façon exacte. Également, nous introduisons un cadre flexible qui utilise des méthodes visant la stabilité inspirées par la littérature pour identifier, à l'aide de notre représentation, une issue stable qui maximise le bien-être social des joueurs. Nous démontrons la valeur de notre représentation (approximée) compacte et de notre approche pour sélectionner une partition stable et une allocation des profits dans une application de marché compétitif provenant de la littérature

Cooperative games with overlapping coalitions

In the usual models of cooperative game theory, the outcome of a coalition formation process is either the grand coalition or a coalition structure that consists of disjoint coalitions. However, in many domains where coalitions are associated with tasks, an agent may be involved in executing more than one task, and thus may distribute his resources among several coalitions. To tackle such scenarios, we introduce a model for cooperative games with overlapping coalitions—or overlapping coalition formation (OCF) games. We then explore the issue of stability in this setting. In particular, we introduce a notion of the core, which generalizes the corresponding notion in the traditional (non-overlapping) scenario. Then, under some quite general conditions, we characterize the elements of the core, and show that any element of the core maximizes the social welfare. We also introduce a concept of balancedness for overlapping coalitional games, and use it to characterize coalition structures that can be extended to elements of the core. Finally, we generalize the notion of convexity to our setting, and show that under some natural assumptions convex games have a non-empty core. Moreover, we introduce two alternative notions of stability in OCF that allow a wider range of deviations, and explore the relationships among the corresponding definitions of the core, as well as the classic (non-overlapping) core and the Aubin core. We illustrate the general properties of the three cores, and also study them from a computational perspective, thus obtaining additional insights into their fundamental structure

Cooperative Games with Bounded Dependency Degree

Cooperative games provide a framework to study cooperation among self-interested agents. They offer a number of solution concepts describing how the outcome of the cooperation should be shared among the players. Unfortunately, computational problems associated with many of these solution concepts tend to be intractable---NP-hard or worse. In this paper, we incorporate complexity measures recently proposed by Feige and Izsak (2013), called dependency degree and supermodular degree, into the complexity analysis of cooperative games. We show that many computational problems for cooperative games become tractable for games whose dependency degree or supermodular degree are bounded. In particular, we prove that simple games admit efficient algorithms for various solution concepts when the supermodular degree is small; further, we show that computing the Shapley value is always in FPT with respect to the dependency degree. Finally, we note that, while determining the dependency among players is computationally hard, there are efficient algorithms for special classes of games.Comment: 10 pages, full version of accepted AAAI-18 pape