Assigning agents to a line

Jens Hougaard (jlh@ifro.ku.dk), Juan Moreno-Ternero and Lars Peter Østerdal

No 11/2012, Discussion Papers on Economics from University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics

Abstract: We consider the problem of assigning agents to a facility, represented by slots on a line, where only one agent can be served at a time. There is a finite number of agents, and each one wants to be served as close as possible to his preferred slot. We first consider deterministic assignment of agents to slots. We characterize (Pareto) efficiency in such setting and provide an algorithm for testing if a given deterministic assignment is efficient. We also characterize utilitarianism (minimization of the total gap between preferred and assigned slots) and provide a quick algorithm for testing if a given deterministic assignment is utilitarian. We then consider probabilistic assignment of agents to slots. In such framework, we characterize, making use of the previous algorithms, a method which is ordinally efficient and utilitarian.

Keywords: Random assignment; ordinal efficiency; ex post efficiency; congested facility; utilitarianism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 D61 D63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-07-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gth and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Assigning agents to a line (2014)
Working Paper: Assigning agents to a line (2014)
Working Paper: Assigning agents to a line (2014)
Working Paper: Assigning agents to a line (2013)
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