Core,least core and nucleolus for multiple scenario cooperative games

Multiple scenario cooperative games model situations where the worth of the coalitions is valued in different scenarios simultaneously or under different states of nature. In this paper we analyze solution concepts for this class of games keeping the multidimensional nature of the characteristic function. We obtain extensions of the notions of core, least core and nucleolus, and explore the relationship among these solution concepts.     

A fundamental study for partially defined cooperative games

The payoff of each coalition has been assumed to be known precisely in the conventional cooperative games. However, we may come across situations where some coalitional values remain unknown. This paper treats cooperative games whose coalitional values are not known completely. In the cooperative games it is assumed that some of coalitional values are known precisely but others remain unknown. Some complete games associated with such incomplete games are proposed. Solution concepts are studied in a special case where only values of the grand coalition and singleton coalitions are known. Through the investigations of solutions of complete games associated with the given incomplete game, we show a focal point solution suggested commonly from different viewpoints.     

Partially ordered cooperative games: extended core and Shapley value

In this paper we analyze cooperative games whose characteristic function takes values in a partially ordered linear space. Thus, the classical solution concepts in cooperative game theory have to be revisited and redefined: the core concept, Shapley–Bondareva theorem and the Shapley value are extended for this class of games. The classes of standard, vector-valued and stochastic cooperative games among others are particular cases of this general theory. The research of the authors is partially supported by Spanish DGICYT grant numbers MTM2004-0909, HA2003-0121, HI2003-0189, MTM2007-67433-C02-01, P06-FQM-01366.     

Some results on cooperative interval games

Uncertainty is a daily presence in the real world. It affects our decision-making and may have influence on cooperation. On many occasions, uncertainty is so severe that we can only predict some upper and lower bounds for the outcome of our actions, i.e. payoffs lie in some intervals. A suitable game theoretic model to support decision-making in collaborative situations with interval data is that of cooperative interval games. Solution concepts that associate with each cooperative interval game sets of interval allocations with appealing properties provide a natural way to capture the uncertainty of coalition values into the players’ payoffs. In this paper, the relations between some set-valued solution concepts using interval payoffs, namely the interval core, the interval dominance core, the square interval dominance core and the interval stable sets for cooperative interval games, are studied. It is shown that the interval core is the unique stable set on the class of convex interval games.     

Cores and related solution concepts for multi-choice games

A multi-choice game is a generalization of a cooperative game in which each player has several activity levels. Cooperative games form a subclass of the class of multi-choice games.This paper extends some solution concepts for cooperative games to multi-choice games. In particular, the notions of core, dominance core and Weber set are extended. Relations between cores and dominance cores and between cores and Weber sets are extensively studied. A class of flow games is introduced and relations with non-negative games with non-empty cores are investigated.     

On ordinal equivalence of the Shapley and Banzhaf values for cooperative games

In this paper I consider the ordinal equivalence of the Shapley and Banzhaf values for TU cooperative games, i.e., cooperative games for which the preorderings on the set of players induced by these two values coincide. To this end I consider several solution concepts within semivalues and introduce three subclasses of games which are called, respectively, weakly complete, semicoherent and coherent cooperative games. A characterization theorem in terms of the ordinal equivalence of some semivalues is given for each of these three classes of cooperative games. In particular, the Shapley and Banzhaf values as well as the segment of semivalues they limit are ordinally equivalent for weakly complete, semicoherent and coherent cooperative games.     

On dominance core and stable sets for cooperative ellipsoidal games

Abstract

The allocation problem of rewards or costs is a central question for individuals and organizations contemplating cooperation under uncertainty. The involvement of uncertainty in cooperative games is motivated by the real world where noise in observation and experimental design, incomplete information and further vagueness in preference structures and decision-making play an important role. The theory of cooperative ellipsoidal games provides a new game theoretical angle and suitable tools for answering this question. In this paper, some solution concepts using ellipsoids, namely the ellipsoidal imputation set, the ellipsoidal dominance core and the ellipsoidal stable sets for cooperative ellipsoidal games, are introduced and studied. The main results contained in the paper are the relations between the ellipsoidal core, the ellipsoidal dominance core and the ellipsoidal stable sets of such a game.     

A dynamic solution concept for abstract games

Several solution concepts have been defined for abstract games. Some of these are the core, due to Gillies and Shapley, the Von Neumann-Morgenstern stable sets, and the subsolutions due to Roth. These solution concepts are rather static in nature. In this paper, we propose a new solution concept for abstract games, called the dynamic solution, that reflects the dynamic aspects of negotiation among the players. Some properties of the dynamic solution are studied. Also, the dynamic solution of abstract games arising fromn-person cooperative games in characteristic function form is investigated.This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research under Contract No. N00014-75-C-0678, by the National Science Foundation under Grants Nos. MPS-75-02024 and MCS-77-03984 at Cornell University, by the United States Army under Contract No. DAAG-29-75-C-0024, and by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. MCS-75-17385-A01 at the University of Wisconsin. The author is grateful to Professor W. F. Lucas under whose guidance the research was conducted.     

区间合作对策核心存在性的进一步讨论

区间合作对策,是研究当联盟收益值为区间数情形时如何进行合理收益分配的数学模型。近年来,其解的存在性与合理性等问题引起了国内外专家的广泛关注。区间核心,是区间合作对策中一个非常稳定的集值解概念。本文首先针对区间核心的存在性进行深入的讨论,通过引入强非均衡,极小强均衡,模单调等概念,从不同角度给出判别区间核心存在性的充分条件。其次,通过引入相关参数,定义了广义区间核心,并给出定理讨论了区间核心与广义区间核心的存在关系。本文的结论将为进一步推动区间合作对策的发展,为解决区间不确定情形下的收益分配问题奠定理论基础。     

A test of the core solution in finite strategy non-sidepayment games

This paper reports a test of the core solution in cooperative non-sidepayment games where players have finite strategy sets. Two laboratory experiments were conducted with three-person and four-person games; in both experiments, the core solution was tested competitively against the von Neumann-Morgenstern stable set and the imputation set. Predictions from these solution concepts were computed under parameters of α-effectiveness and strict preference. Results show that the frequency of outcomes falling in core is substantially higher than that observed in previous experiments (most of which involve sidepayment games). In addition, goodness-of-fit tests show that the core solution predicts the observed outcomes more accurately than do the stable set or the imputation set.     

The core and related solution concepts for infinite assignment games

Assignment problems where both sets of agents that have to be matched are countably infinite, the so-called infinite assignment problems, are studied as well as the related cooperative assignment games. Further, several solution concepts for these assignment games are studied. The first one is the utopia payoff for games with an infinite value. In this solution each player receives the maximal amount he can think of with respect to the underlying assignment problem. This solution is contained in the core of the game. Second, we study two solutions for assignment games with a finite value. Our main result is the existence of core-elements of these games, although they are hard to calculate. Therefore another solution, the f-strong ε-core is studied. This particular solution takes into account that due to organisational limitations it seems reasonable that only finite groups of agents will eventually protest against unfair proposals of profit distributions. The f-strong ε-core is shown to be nonempty. These authors’ research is partially supported by the Generalitat Valenciana (Grant number GV-CTIDIA-2002-32) and by the Government of Spain (through a joint research grant Universidad Miguel Hernández — Università degli Studi di Genova HI2002-0032).     

Structural satisfaction in simple games

A fundamental maxim for any theory of social behavior is that knowledge of the theory should not cause behavior that contradicts the theory's assertions. Although this maxim consistently has been heeded in the theory of noncooperative games, it largely has been ignored in solution theory for cooperative games. Solution theory, the central concern of this paper, seeks to identify a subset of the feasible outcomes of a cooperative game that are ‘stable’ results of competition among participants, each of whom attempts to bring about an outcome he favors, rather than to prescribe ‘fair’ outcomes that accord with a standard of equity. We show that learning by participants about the solution theory can cause the outcomes identified as stable by certain solution concepts to become unstable, and discover that an important distinction in this regard is whether the solution concept requires each element of the solution set to defend itself against alternatives rather than relying on other elements for its defense. Finally, we develop a concept of ‘solid’ solutions which have a special claim for stability.The unifying theme of this paper concerns the sense in which certain outcomes of a cooperative game may be regarded as stable, and the extent to which this stability requires that the players are ignorant of the theory. Although the issues raised here have implications for the theory of cooperative games in general, Section 1 establishes the focus of the analysis on collective decision games. Section 2 develops some general perspectives on solution theory which are used in Sections 3 and 4 to evaluate the Condorcet solution, the core, the robust proposals set, von Neumann- Morgenstern solutions and competitive solutions. Section 5 presents the concept of a solid solution and relates this idea to the solution concepts reviewed earlier. We demonstrate that in general a solution concept has a strong claim to stability only if it is solid. Finally, Section 6 concludes by indicating that the basic argument also can be applied to Aumann and Maschler's bargaining sets and, more generally, to solution theory for any cooperative game.     

Semivalues: weighting coefficients and allocations on unanimity games

Each semivalue, as a solution concept defined on cooperative games with a finite set of players, is univocally determined by weighting coefficients that apply to players’ marginal contributions. Taking into account that a semivalue induces semivalues on lower cardinalities, we prove that its weighting coefficients can be reconstructed from the last weighting coefficients of its induced semivalues. Moreover, we provide the conditions of a sequence of numbers in order to be the family of the last coefficients of any induced semivalues. As a consequence of this fact, we give two characterizations of each semivalue defined on cooperative games with a finite set of players: one, among all semivalues; another, among all solution concepts on cooperative games.     

A generalized linear production model: A unifying model

We introduce a generalized linear production model whose attractive feature being that the resources held by any subset of producersS is not restricted to be the vector sum of the resources held by the members ofS. We provide sufficient conditions for the non-emptiness of the core of the associated generalized linear production game, and show that if the core of the game is not empty then a solution in it can be produced from a dual optimal solution to the associated linear programming problem. Our generalized linear production model is a proper generalization of the linear production model introduced by Owen, and it can be used to analyze cooperative games which cannot be studied in the ordinary linear production model framework. We use the generalized model to show that the cooperative game induced by a network optimization problem in which players are the nodes of the network has a non-empty core. We further employ our model to prove the non-emptiness of the core of two other classes of cooperative games, which were not previously studied in the literature, and we also use our generalized model to provide an alternative proof for the non-emptiness of the core of the class of minimum cost spanning tree games. Thus, it appears that the generalized linear production model is a unifying model which can be used to explain the non-emptiness of the core of cooperative games generated by various, seemingly different, optimization models.This research was partially done while the author was visiting the Graduate School of Business Administration at Tel-Aviv University. The research was partially supported by Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Canada Grant A4181 and by SSHRC leave fellowship 451-83-0030.Dedicated to George B. Dantzig.     

The Shapley value for cooperative games under precedence constraints

Cooperative games are considered where only those coalitions of players are feasible that respect a given precedence structure on the set of players. Strengthening the classical symmetry axiom, we obtain three axioms that give rise to a unique Shapley value in this model. The Shapley value is seen to reflect the expected marginal contribution of a player to a feasible random coalition, which allows us to evaluate the Shapley value nondeterministically. We show that every exact algorithm for the Shapley value requires an exponential number of operations already in the classical case and that even restriction to simple games is #P-hard in general. Furthermore, we outline how the multi-choice cooperative games of Hsiao and Raghavan can be treated in our context, which leads to a Shapley value that does not depend on pre-assigned weights. Finally, the relationship between the Shapley value and the permission value of Gilles, Owen and van den Brink is discussed. Both refer to formally similar models of cooperative games but reflect complementary interpretations of the precedence constraints and thus give rise to fundamentally different solution concepts.     

Set-valued cooperative games with fuzzy payoffs. The fuzzy assignment game

In this paper we study cooperative games with fuzzy payoffs. The main advantage of the approach presented is the incorporation into the analysis of the problem of ambiguity inherent in many real-world collective decision situations. We propose extensions of core concepts which maintain the fuzzy nature of allocations, and lead to a more satisfactory study of the problem within the fuzzy context. Finally, we illustrate the extended core concepts and the approach to obtain the corresponding allocations through the analysis of assignment games with uncertain profits.     

Cooperative games under interval uncertainty: on the convexity of the interval undominated cores

Uncertainty is a daily presence in the real world. It affects our decision making and may have influence on cooperation. Often uncertainty is so severe that we can only predict some upper and lower bounds for the outcome of our actions, i.e., payoffs lie in some intervals. A suitable game theoretic model to support decision making in collaborative situations with interval data is that of cooperative interval games. Solution concepts that associate with each cooperative interval game sets of interval allocations with appealing properties provide a natural way to capture the uncertainty of coalition values into the players’ payoffs. This paper extends interval-type core solutions for cooperative interval games by discussing the set of undominated core solutions which consists of the interval nondominated core, the square interval dominance core, and the interval dominance core. The interval nondominated core is introduced and it is shown that it coincides with the interval core. A straightforward consequence of this result is the convexity of the interval nondominated core of any cooperative interval game. A necessary and sufficient condition for the convexity of the square interval dominance core of a cooperative interval game is also provided.     

基于区间与模糊Shapley值的合作收益分配策略

将经典Shapley值三条公理进行拓广,提出具有模糊支付合作对策的Shapley值公理体系。研究一种特殊的模糊支付合作对策,即具有区间支付的合作对策,并且给出了该区间Shapley值形式。根据模糊数和区间数的对应关系,提出模糊支付合作对策的Shapley值,指出该模糊Shapley值是区间支付模糊合作对策的自然模糊延拓。结果表明:对于任意给定置信水平α,若α=1,则模糊Shapley值对应经典合作对策的Shapley值,否则对应具有区间支付合作对策的区间Shapley值。通过模糊数的排序,给出了最优的分配策略。由于对具有模糊支付的合作对策进行比较系统的研究,从而为如何求解局中人参与联盟程度模糊化、支付函数模糊化的合作对策,奠定了一定的基础。     

On coalition formation: a game-theoretical approach

This paper deals with the question of coalition formation inn-person cooperative games. Two abstract game models of coalition formation are proposed. We then study the core and the dynamic solution of these abstract games. These models assume that there is a rule governing the allocation of payoffs to each player in each coalition structure called a payoff solution concept. The predictions of these models are characterized for the special case of games with side payments using various payoff solution concepts such as the individually rational payoffs, the core, the Shapley value and the bargaining set M₁ ⁽ⁱ⁾. Some modifications of these models are also discussed.     

Non-binding agreements and fairness in commons dilemma games

Usually, common pool games are analyzed without taking into account the cooperative features of the game, even when communication and non-binding agreements are involved. Whereas equilibria are inefficient, negotiations may induce some cooperation and may enhance efficiency. In the paper, we propose to use tools of cooperative game theory to advance the understanding of results in dilemma situations that allow for communication. By doing so, we present a short review of earlier experimental evidence given by Hackett, Schlager, and Walker 1994 (HSW) for the conditional stability of non-binding agreements established in face-to-face multilateral negotiations. For an experimental test, we reanalyze the HSW data set in a game-theoretical analysis of cooperative versions of social dilemma games. The results of cooperative game theory that are most important for the application are explained and interpreted with respect to their meaning for negotiation behavior. Then, theorems are discussed that cooperative social dilemma games are clear (alpha- and beta-values coincide) and that they are convex (it follows that the core is “large”): The main focus is on how arguments of power and fairness can be based on the structure of the game. A second item is how fairness and stability properties of a negotiated (non-binding) agreement can be judged. The use of cheap talk in evaluating experiments reveals that besides the relation of non-cooperative and cooperative solutions, say of equilibria and core, the relation of alpha-, beta- and gamma-values are of importance for the availability of attractive solutions and the stability of the such agreements. In the special case of the HSW scenario, the game shows properties favorable for stable and efficient solutions. Nevertheless, the realized agreements are less efficient than expected. The realized (and stable) agreements can be located between the equilibrium, the egalitarian solution and some fairness solutions. In order to represent the extent to which the subjects obey efficiency and fairness, we present and discuss patterns of the corresponding excess vectors.