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Two-player fair division of indivisible items: Comparison of algorithms

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  • Kilgour, D. Marc
  • Vetschera, Rudolf

Abstract

We study algorithms for allocating a set of indivisible items to two players who rank them differently. We compare eleven such algorithms, mostly taken from the literature, in a computational study, evaluating them according to fairness and efficiency criteria that are based on ordinal preferences as well as Borda counts. Our study is exhaustive in that, for every possible instance of up to twelve items, we compare the output of each algorithm to all possible allocations. We thus can search for “good” allocations that no algorithm finds. Overall, the algorithms do very well on ordinal properties but fall short on Borda properties. We also discuss the similarity of algorithms and suggest how they can be usefully combined.

Suggested Citation

  • Kilgour, D. Marc & Vetschera, Rudolf, 2018. "Two-player fair division of indivisible items: Comparison of algorithms," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 271(2), pages 620-631.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:271:y:2018:i:2:p:620-631
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2018.05.057
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Steven Brams & D. Kilgour & Christian Klamler, 2012. "The undercut procedure: an algorithm for the envy-free division of indivisible items," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 39(2), pages 615-631, July.
    2. Steven J. Brams & D. Marc Kilgour & Christian Klamler, 2017. "Maximin Envy-Free Division of Indivisible Items," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(1), pages 115-131, January.
    3. Jean-François Laslier, 2010. "In Silico Voting Experiments," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Jean-François Laslier & M. Remzi Sanver (ed.), Handbook on Approval Voting, chapter 0, pages 311-335, Springer.
    4. Dimitris Bertsimas & Vivek F. Farias & Nikolaos Trichakis, 2012. "On the Efficiency-Fairness Trade-off," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 58(12), pages 2234-2250, December.
    5. Andreas Darmann & Christian Klamler, 2016. "Proportional Borda allocations," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(3), pages 543-558, October.
    6. Brams, Steven & Kilgour, D. Marc & Klamler, Christian, 2014. "How to divide things fairly," MPRA Paper 58370, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Steven J. Brams & Daniel L. King, 2005. "Efficient Fair Division," Rationality and Society, , vol. 17(4), pages 387-421, November.
    8. Jean-François Laslier & M. Remzi Sanver (ed.), 2010. "Handbook on Approval Voting," Studies in Choice and Welfare, Springer, number 978-3-642-02839-7, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Aziz, Haris & Huang, Xin & Mattei, Nicholas & Segal-Halevi, Erel, 2023. "Computing welfare-Maximizing fair allocations of indivisible goods," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 307(2), pages 773-784.
    2. Andreas Darmann & Christian Klamler, 2019. "Using the Borda rule for ranking sets of objects," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 53(3), pages 399-414, October.
    3. Montes, Ignacio & Rademaker, Michael & Pérez-Fernández, Raúl & De Baets, Bernard, 2020. "A correspondence between voting procedures and stochastic orderings," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(3), pages 977-987.
    4. Cornilly, Dries & Puccetti, Giovanni & Rüschendorf, Ludger & Vanduffel, Steven, 2022. "Fair allocation of indivisible goods with minimum inequality or minimum envy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 297(2), pages 741-752.
    5. Steven J. Brams & D. Marc Kilgour & Christian Klamler, 2022. "Two-Person Fair Division of Indivisible Items when Envy-Freeness is Impossible," SN Operations Research Forum, Springer, vol. 3(2), pages 1-23, June.

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