Approximating Multi-attribute Resource Allocations Using GAI Utility Functions

Abstract

The design of Multi-Attribute Double-Sided Auctions (MADSA) is an important problem being examined in a variety of domains. Despite significant efforts, an ideal compromise between expressiveness of preference representation and the tractability of MADSA mechanisms is still subject to much debate. In this paper, we propose a MADSA mechanism whereby bids are placed in the form of Generalised Additively Independent-Decomposable (GAI-D) utility functions. We show that by applying a set of constraints on the composition of these functions a relaxation of the Kalai bargaining solution becomes tractable for large double-sided markets. Experimental results show that the proposed mechanism provides efficient results when compared to the well known k-priced greedy market mechanism.