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House allocation problem

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161:: the agents are ordered in some arbitrary order (e.g. by seniority), and each agent in turn picks the best remaining house by his/her preferences. This algorithm is obviously SP. If the agents' preferences are strict, then it finds a PE allocation. However, it may be very unfair towards the agents who pick last. It can be made fairer (in expectation) by choosing the order uniformly at random; this leads to the mechanism called 306:
allocation, in which the maximum number of agents envied by a single agent is minimized. Madathil, Misra and Sethia prove that it is NP-hard even when each agent values at most 2 houses, every house is approved by a constant number of agents, and the maximum allowed envy is just 1. The proof is by
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allocation, in which the number of non-envious agents is maximized. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong. prove that, under common complexity theoretic assumption, this problem is hard to approximate. In particular, if NP cannot be solved in subexponential time, then it cannot be approximated to
354:, all houses must be assigned, so an allocation is EF iff each agent gets a house with a highest value. Therefore, it is possible to reduce the original graph to an unweighted graph, in which each agent is adjacent only to his highest-valued houses, and look for a perfect matching in this graph. 365:, the above algorithm may not work, since not all houses must be assigned: even if a single house is most-preferred by all agents, there may exist a complete EF allocation in which this specific house is not assigned. Gan, Suksompong and Voudouris 207:, the primary efficiency requirement is maximizing the sum of utilities. Finding a house allocation maximizing the sum of utilities is equivalent to finding a maximum-weight matching in a weighted bipartite graph; it is also called the 393:, and they only envy their neighbors in that network. Beynier, Chevaleyre, Gourves, Harutyunyan, Lesca, Maudet and Wilczynski study the problem of deciding whether a complete local-envy-free allocation exists for 43:, such that each person receives exactly one object. The name "house allocation" comes from the main motivating application, which is assigning dormitory houses to students. Other commonly used terms are 283:) problem. Madathil, Misra and Sethia prove that it is NP-hard even when each agent values at most 2 houses, and W-hard when parameterized by the number of envious agents. The proof is by reduction from 191:
consider an extended setting in which some agents already own a house while some others are house-less. Their mechanism is IR, PE and SP. They present two algorithms that implement this mechanism.
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When each agent already owns a house, fairness considerations are less important, it is more important to guarantee to agents that they will not lose from participating (IR). The
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allocation of maximum cardinality and minimum cost (where each edge has a pre-specified cost for society). Aigner-Horev and Segal-Halevi present a polytime algorithm.
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allocation, in which the number of envious agents is minimized. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompongprove that it is NP-hard. The proof is by reduction from the
55:. In house allocation problems, it is assumed that monetary transfers are not allowed; the variant in which monetary transfers are allowed is known as 545:
it is trivial to approximate: just give one agent his favorite house, and allocate the other agents arbitrarily). The proof is by reduction from the
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allocation exists. This holds iff there exists a matching that saturates all the agents; this can be decided in polynomial time by just finding a
88:: each agent values each house at either 1 (which means that the agent likes the house), or 0 (which means that the agent dislikes the house). 1015:
Beynier, Aurélie; Chevaleyre, Yann; Gourvès, Laurent; Harutyunyan, Ararat; Lesca, Julien; Maudet, Nicolas; Wilczynski, Anaëlle (2019-09-01).
942: 152:, the primary efficiency requirement in house allocation is PE. There are various algorithms attaining a PE allocation in various settings. 817:
Segal-Halevi, Erel; Aigner-Horev, Elad (2022). "Envy-free matchings in bipartite graphs and their applications to fair division".
1073: 162: 463: 599:- each agent must get a single object. Randomization is allowed. The allocation should be fair and efficient in expectation. 1068: 251: 368:
present a polynomial-time algorithm that decides, in polynomial time, whether a complete EF allocation exists for any
593:- each agent must get a single object. The goal is to maximize the sum of valuations, or minimize the sum of costs. 81:). The agents may have different preferences over the houses. They may express their preferences in various ways: 312: 288: 178:
algorithm is the unique algorithm which guarantees IR, PE and SP. With strict preferences, TTC finds the unique
21: 937:. AAMAS '23. Richland, SC: International Foundation for Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems: 2673–2675. 605:- each agent must get a single object and pay a price; the allocation of objects+prices should be envy-free. 308: 959: 870: 764: 596: 284: 166: 91: 40: 555: 51:. When agents already own houses (and may trade them with other agents), the problem is often called a 614: 157: 17: 496: 439: 1044: 997: 971: 908: 882: 844: 826: 710: 608: 590: 569: 469: 412: 238: 209: 221:
Algorithmic problems related to fairness of the matching have been studied in several contexts.
522: 201:, that is, their predictions do not depend of the order in which the assignments are realized. 1036: 989: 938: 900: 794: 745: 702: 661: 611:- some agents may remain unallocated, as long as they do not like any of the allocated houses. 261:
allocation of maximum cardinality. Aigner-Horev and Segal-Halevi present a polytime algorithm.
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Proceedings of the 2023 International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems
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exists. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong prove that it is NP-complete, by reduction from
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Roth, Alvin E. (1982-01-01). "Incentive compatibility in a market with indivisible goods".
229: 680: 602: 390: 376:. Their algorithm uses, as a subroutine, an algorithm for finding an inclusion-minimal 332: 140:
Individual rationality (IR) - no agent should lose from participating in the algorithm.
137:(SP) - each agent has an incentive to report his/her true preferences to the algorithm. 57: 780: 114:
Several considerations may be important in designing algorithms for house allocation.
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allocation of maximum cardinality. The runtime complexity of this problem is open.
323:, and can be solved efficiently when agents have "extremal intervals" preferences. 299:, and can be solved efficiently when agents have "extremal intervals" preferences. 121:(PE) - no other allocation is better for some agents and not worse to all agents. 560: 179: 1032: 896: 840: 389:
allocation exists. Local envy-freeness means that the agents are located on a
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exists. Kamiyama, Manurangsi and Suksompong present a polytime algorithm.
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Gan, Jiarui; Suksompong, Warut; Voudouris, Alexandros A. (2019-09-01).
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Madathil, Jayakrishnan; Misra, Neeldhara; Sethia, Aditi (2023-05-30).
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Kamiyama, Naoyuki; Manurangsi, Pasin; Suksompong, Warut (2021-07-01).
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in this graph. The following algorithmic problems have been studied.
96:: each agent ranks the houses from best to worst. The ranking may be 127:- can be defined in various ways, for example, envy-freeness (EF) - 976: 887: 831: 110:: each agent assigns a non-negative numeric value to each house. 681:"Housing Markets with Indifferences: A Tale of Two Mechanisms" 466:
is true, then it cannot be approximated to within a factor of
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Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence
165:. The mechanism is PE ex-post, but it is not PE ex-ante; see 39:
is the problem of assigning objects to people with different
335:. The following algorithmic problems have been studied. 155:
Probably the simplest algorithm for house allocation is
931:"The Complexity of Minimizing Envy in House Allocation" 169:
for other randomized mechanisms which are ex-ante PE.
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Abdulkadiroğlu, Atila; Sönmez, Tayfun (1999-10-01).
1017:"Local envy-freeness in house allocation problems" 537: 511: 485: 454: 428: 8: 960:"Envy-freeness in house allocation problems" 871:"On the complexity of fair house allocation" 617:- each agent may get any number of objects. 331:, the graph of agents and houses becomes a 205:In computer science and operations research 765:"Consistency in house allocation problems" 315:when parameterized by the total number of 291:when parameterized by the total number of 1021:Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems 975: 886: 830: 788: 696: 655: 524: 498: 477: 471: 441: 420: 414: 311:on cubic graphs. However, the problem is 16:For the problem of allocating seats in a 640:"House Allocation with Existing Tenants" 627: 679:Aziz, Haris; Keijzer, Bart de (2012). 812: 810: 808: 232:on the sets of agents and houses. An 7: 924: 922: 864: 862: 860: 858: 633: 631: 236:house allocation corresponds to an 14: 769:Journal of Mathematical Economics 401:, for various network structures. 986:10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2019.07.005 228:their "like" relations define a 77:), and m objects (also called: 763:Ergin, Haluk İ. (2000-08-01). 464:small set expansion hypothesis 197:considers rules that are also 1: 781:10.1016/S0304-4068(99)00038-5 964:Mathematical Social Sciences 742:10.1016/0165-1765(82)90003-9 512:{\displaystyle \gamma <1} 455:{\displaystyle \gamma >0} 385:Deciding whether a complete 252:maximum cardinality matching 875:Operations Research Letters 486:{\displaystyle n^{\gamma }} 429:{\displaystyle n^{\gamma }} 1090: 1033:10.1007/s10458-019-09417-x 644:Journal of Economic Theory 287:. However, the problem is 163:random serial dictatorship 15: 897:10.1016/j.orl.2021.06.006 841:10.1016/j.ins.2021.11.059 547:maximum balanced biclique 538:{\displaystyle \gamma =1} 313:fixed-parameter tractable 289:fixed-parameter tractable 333:weighted bipartite graph 104:(indifferences allowed). 37:house allocation problem 22:Apportionment (politics) 1074:Matching (graph theory) 698:10.1609/aaai.v26i1.8239 556:proportional allocation 309:Maximum independent set 254:in the bipartite graph. 657:10.1006/jeth.1999.2553 597:Fair random assignment 539: 513: 487: 456: 430: 285:Maximum clique problem 167:fair random assignment 100:(no indifferences) or 540: 514: 488: 457: 431: 145:Efficient allocations 73:people (also called: 1069:Fair item allocation 819:Information Sciences 615:Fair item allocation 570:equitable allocation 523: 497: 470: 440: 413: 129:no agent should envy 18:house of legislature 566:Deciding whether a 552:Deciding whether a 409:within a factor of 343:allocation exists. 339:Deciding whether a 329:cardinal valuations 281:bipartite expansion 246:Deciding whether a 186:Abdulkadiroglu and 158:serial dictatorship 609:Envy-free matching 591:Assignment problem 535: 509: 483: 452: 426: 239:envy-free matching 226:binary valuations, 210:assignment problem 93:Preference ranking 49:one-sided matching 45:assignment problem 944:978-1-4503-9432-1 730:Economics Letters 561:exact 3-set cover 327:When agents have 224:When agents have 175:top trading cycle 135:Strategyproofness 119:Pareto efficiency 86:Binary valuations 1081: 1053: 1052: 1012: 1006: 1005: 979: 955: 949: 948: 926: 917: 916: 890: 866: 853: 852: 834: 814: 803: 802: 792: 760: 754: 753: 725: 719: 718: 700: 691:(1): 1249–1255. 676: 670: 669: 659: 635: 585:Related problems 544: 542: 541: 536: 518: 516: 515: 510: 492: 490: 489: 484: 482: 481: 461: 459: 458: 453: 435: 433: 432: 427: 425: 424: 277:minimum coverage 217:Fair allocations 108:Cardinal utility 33:computer science 1089: 1088: 1084: 1083: 1082: 1080: 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404:Finding a 302:Finding a 271:Finding a 266:partial EF 264:Finding a 259:partial EF 257:Finding a 199:consistent 69:There are 1041:1573-7454 1002:143421680 994:0165-4896 913:235422019 905:0167-6377 849:170079201 799:0304-4068 750:0165-1765 707:2374-3468 666:0022-0531 568:complete 554:complete 527:γ 501:γ 479:γ 462:; if the 444:γ 436:for some 422:γ 234:envy-free 29:economics 1049:51869987 715:15395473 549:problem. 493:for any 125:Fairness 1047:  1039:  1000:  992:  941:  911:  903:  847:  797:  748:  713:  705:  664:  188:Sönmez 98:strict 79:houses 75:agents 35:, the 20:, see 1045:S2CID 998:S2CID 972:arXiv 909:S2CID 883:arXiv 845:S2CID 827:arXiv 711:S2CID 519:(for 357:When 346:When 279:(aka 195:Ergin 1037:ISSN 990:ISSN 939:ISBN 901:ISSN 795:ISSN 746:ISSN 703:ISSN 662:ISSN 504:< 447:> 361:> 319:and 295:and 102:weak 47:and 31:and 1029:doi 982:doi 968:101 893:doi 837:doi 823:587 785:hdl 777:doi 738:doi 693:doi 652:doi 27:In 1065:: 1043:. 1035:. 1025:33 1023:. 1019:. 996:. 988:. 980:. 966:. 962:. 933:. 921:^ 907:. 899:. 891:. 879:49 877:. 873:. 857:^ 843:. 835:. 821:. 807:^ 793:. 783:. 773:34 771:. 767:. 744:. 732:. 709:. 701:. 689:26 687:. 683:. 660:. 648:88 646:. 642:. 630:^ 372:≥ 213:. 61:. 1051:. 1031:: 1004:. 984:: 974:: 947:. 915:. 895:: 885:: 851:. 839:: 829:: 801:. 787:: 779:: 752:. 740:: 734:9 717:. 695:: 668:. 654:: 563:. 533:1 530:= 507:1 475:n 450:0 418:n 399:n 397:= 395:m 380:. 374:n 370:m 363:n 359:m 352:n 350:= 348:m 71:n 24:.

Index

house of legislature
Apportionment (politics)
economics
computer science
preferences
rental harmony
Preference ranking
Cardinal utility
Pareto efficiency
Fairness
no agent should envy
Strategyproofness
serial dictatorship
random serial dictatorship
fair random assignment
top trading cycle
core-stable
Sönmez
assignment problem
bipartite graph
envy-free
envy-free matching
maximum cardinality matching
Maximum clique problem
fixed-parameter tractable
Maximum independent set
fixed-parameter tractable
weighted bipartite graph
Hall violator
social network

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