Combinatorial Optimization and Games

A special issue of Games (ISSN 2073-4336).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 October 2017) | Viewed by 11719

Special Issue Editors

1. Department of Applied Science and Technology DISAT, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Torino, Italy
2. Collegio Carlo Alberto, Via Real Collegio 30, 10024 Moncalieri, Italy
Department of Decision Sciences and IGIER, Università Bocconi, Via Roberto Sarfatti, 25, 20100 Milano, Italy
Interests: game theory; social networks; complex networks
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Most socio-economic and communication systems in the Digital Age are organized as complex networked structures (e.g., peer-to-peer systems, online markets, social networks), of which basic constituents are rational agents making selfish decisions. Although the natural framework to study such systems is a game-theoretic one, the complexity of these multi-player games is spectacularly higher than that usually considered in classical economics, and new theoretical and algorithmic methods are awaited. Techniques from the area of combinatorial optimization and statistical physics of disordered systems have proved useful to characterize equilibrium properties of these large-scale games, but many aspects are still poorly understood. This Special Issue is expected to provide a step forward in the research on these topics, in particular on the role of externalities and network correlations, the study of dynamical equilibrium selection and learning processes, the effect of incentives allocation and mechanism design. 

The Special Issue will be an opportunity to put together researchers from different scientific areas, from microeconomics to statistical physics and computer science, working on game theoretic problems arising in multi-player games. Both short reviews and original papers are welcome. Keywords below are merely indicative.

Dr. Luca Dall'Asta
Dr. Paolo Pin
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Games is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • combinatorial optimization
  • local interaction games
  • algorithmic game theory
  • social networks
  • internet economics
  • equilibrium selection
  • learning

Published Papers (2 papers)

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280 KiB  
Article
Structural Holes in Social Networks with Exogenous Cliques
by Antoni Rubí-Barceló
Games 2017, 8(3), 32; https://doi.org/10.3390/g8030032 - 01 Aug 2017
Viewed by 5446
Abstract
It has been empirically shown that structural holes in social networks enable potential large benefits to those individuals who bridge them (Burt, 2004). The work in Goyal and Vega-Redondo (2007) shows that the large payoff differentials caused by structural holes can persist even [...] Read more.
It has been empirically shown that structural holes in social networks enable potential large benefits to those individuals who bridge them (Burt, 2004). The work in Goyal and Vega-Redondo (2007) shows that the large payoff differentials caused by structural holes can persist even when agents strategically add and remove ties to smooth those differentials, thereby providing a game-theoretic rationale for the existence of bridge-agents. The present paper ties back to the initial empirical literature by explicitly assuming that agents are exogenously linked forming cliques, as in a firm environment. In this setting, bridge-agents cannot be sustained under the same conditions of Goyal and Vega-Redondo (2007). Instead, they can be sustained when the deviation possibilities are restricted and only when they connect small groups of agents to the rest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combinatorial Optimization and Games)
346 KiB  
Article
The Integer Nucleolus of Directed Simple Games: A Characterization and an Algorithm
by Reiner Wolff
Games 2017, 8(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/g8010016 - 28 Feb 2017
Viewed by 5927
Abstract
We study the class of directed simple games, assuming that only integer solutions are admitted; i.e., the players share a resource that comes in discrete units. We show that the integer nucleolus—if nonempty—of such a game is composed of the images of a [...] Read more.
We study the class of directed simple games, assuming that only integer solutions are admitted; i.e., the players share a resource that comes in discrete units. We show that the integer nucleolus—if nonempty—of such a game is composed of the images of a particular payoff vector under all symmetries of the game. This payoff vector belongs to the set of integer imputations that weakly preserve the desirability relation between the players. We propose an algorithm for finding the integer nucleolus of any directed simple game with a nonempty integer imputation set. The algorithm supports the parallel execution of multiple threads in a computer application. We also consider the integer prenucleolus and the class of directed generalized simple games. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Combinatorial Optimization and Games)
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