34,841 research outputs found
Distributed Signaling Games
A recurring theme in recent computer science literature is that proper design
of signaling schemes is a crucial aspect of effective mechanisms aiming to
optimize social welfare or revenue. One of the research endeavors of this line
of work is understanding the algorithmic and computational complexity of
designing efficient signaling schemes. In reality, however, information is
typically not held by a central authority, but is distributed among multiple
sources (third-party "mediators"), a fact that dramatically changes the
strategic and combinatorial nature of the signaling problem, making it a game
between information providers, as opposed to a traditional mechanism design
problem.
In this paper we introduce {\em distributed signaling games}, while using
display advertising as a canonical example for introducing this foundational
framework. A distributed signaling game may be a pure coordination game (i.e.,
a distributed optimization task), or a non-cooperative game. In the context of
pure coordination games, we show a wide gap between the computational
complexity of the centralized and distributed signaling problems. On the other
hand, we show that if the information structure of each mediator is assumed to
be "local", then there is an efficient algorithm that finds a near-optimal
(-approximation) distributed signaling scheme.
In the context of non-cooperative games, the outcome generated by the
mediators' signals may have different value to each (due to the auctioneer's
desire to align the incentives of the mediators with his own by relative
compensations). We design a mechanism for this problem via a novel application
of Shapley's value, and show that it possesses some interesting properties, in
particular, it always admits a pure Nash equilibrium, and it never decreases
the revenue of the auctioneer
Information Structure Design in Team Decision Problems
We consider a problem of information structure design in team decision
problems and team games. We propose simple, scalable greedy algorithms for
adding a set of extra information links to optimize team performance and
resilience to non-cooperative and adversarial agents. We show via a simple
counterexample that the set function mapping additional information links to
team performance is in general not supermodular. Although this implies that the
greedy algorithm is not accompanied by worst-case performance guarantees, we
illustrate through numerical experiments that it can produce effective and
often optimal or near optimal information structure modifications
Incentives-Based Mechanism for Efficient Demand Response Programs
In this work we investigate the inefficiency of the electricity system with
strategic agents. Specifically, we prove that without a proper control the
total demand of an inefficient system is at most twice the total demand of the
optimal outcome. We propose an incentives scheme that promotes optimal outcomes
in the inefficient electricity market. The economic incentives can be seen as
an indirect revelation mechanism that allocates resources using a
one-dimensional message space per resource to be allocated. The mechanism does
not request private information from users and is valid for any concave
customer's valuation function. We propose a distributed implementation of the
mechanism using population games and evaluate the performance of four popular
dynamics methods in terms of the cost to implement the mechanism. We find that
the achievement of efficiency in strategic environments might be achieved at a
cost, which is dependent on both the users' preferences and the dynamic
evolution of the system. Some simulation results illustrate the ideas presented
throughout the paper.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures, submitted to journa
- …