We present a multi-dimensional, multi-step negotiation mechanism for task allocation among cooperative agents based on distributed search. This mechanism uses marginal utility gain and marginal utility cost to structure this search process, so as to find a solution that maximizes the agents’ combined utility. These two utility values together with temporal constraints summarize the agents’ loca...

We present a duality-based method for decentralized communication resource management in the context of networked tracking and surveillance systems. This method shares communication resources according to the joint utility provided by information of particular types. By formulating the problem as an optimization of the joint utility of information flow rates, the dual of the problem can be unde...

We consider the aggregation of individual agents’ von Neumann-Morgenstern’s utility functions into a societal von Neumann-Morgenstern utility function. We start from Harsanyi’s [7] axiomatization of utilitarianism, and ask under which conditions a social preference order that satisfies Harsanyi’s axiom uniquely reveals society’s marginal rates of substitution between the probabilities of any tw...

Recent empirical evidence has shown that nominal wages are more rigid among blue-collar (low income) workers than among white-collar (high income) workers. We show theoretically that employees in crisis-ridden firms will reject wage cut proposals that save jobs if risk aversion is great, replacement rates high and marginal taxes low. These factors for can explain why wage rigidity is less inten...

Conventional hedonic analysis measures willingness to pay for attributes on the basis of marginal fixed costs. We argue that in many cases variable costs are also affected by these attributes and that this should be taken into account. We develop a simple model to show that the marginal willingness to pay for a quality attribute has to be equal to the full marginal cost, which includes marginal...

Motivated by the work of Musiela and Zariphopoulou [24], we study the Itô random fields which are utility functions U(t, x) for any (ω, t). The main tool is the marginal utility Ux(t, x) and its inverse expressed as the opposite of the derivative of the Fenchel conjuguate Ũ(t, y). Under regularity assumptions, we associate a SDE(μ, σ) and its adjoint SPDE(μ, σ) in divergence form whose Ux(t, x)...

Austrian economics is sometimes considered as an alternative to the mainstream. Regardless whether this holds true in other areas, the present paper argues that it is not the case as far as the demand theory is concerned. I attempt to show that the Austrian version of the theory is in fact equivalent with the neoclassical (in its ‘revealed preference’ incarnation). In particular, it is shown th...

he core of the broad field of economics considers how to allocate society’s scarce resources among unlimited desires. In systems where choices are impersonal, have an impact isolated to a point in time, and require little to no ethical dilemma, traditional economics and market prices are well suited to inform the best (or optimal) choices. Many choices made in well-defined goods and services ma...

Motivated by the work of Musiela and Zariphopoulou [24], we study the Itô random fields which are utility functions U(t, x) for any (ω, t). The main tool is the marginal utility Ux(t, x) and its inverse expressed as the opposite of the derivative of the Fenchel conjuguate Ũ(t, y). Under regularity assumptions, we associate a SDE(μ, σ) and its adjoint SPDE(μ, σ) in divergence form whose Ux(t, x)...