Convergence of Local Dynamics to Balanced Outcomes in Exchange Networks

— Bargaining games on exchange networks have been studied by both economists and sociologists. A Balanced Outcome [9], [15] for such a game is an equilibrium concept that combines notions of stability and fairness. In a recent paper, Kleinberg and Tardos [13] introduced balanced outcomes to the computer science community and provided a polynomial-time algorithm to compute the set of such outcomes. Their work left open a pertinent question: are there natural, local dynamics that converge quickly to a balanced outcome? In this paper, we provide a partial answer to this question by showing that simple edgebalancing dynamics converge to a balanced outcome whenever one exists.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2009
• Where: FOCS
• Authors: Yossi Azar, Benjamin E. Birnbaum, L. Elisa Celis, Nikhil R. Devanur, Yuval Peres
• Keywords: Balanced Outcome, Equilibrium Concept, FOCS 2009, Simple Edgebalancing Dynamics, Theoretical Computer Science