Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fitzsimmons, Zack, Viswanathan, Vignesh, Zick, Yair
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00943
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866909372944220160
author Fitzsimmons, Zack
Viswanathan, Vignesh
Zick, Yair
author_facet Fitzsimmons, Zack
Viswanathan, Vignesh
Zick, Yair
contents We study the problem of fair allocation of indivisible items when agents have ternary additive valuations -- each agent values each item at some fixed integer values $a$, $b$, or $c$ that are common to all agents. The notions of fairness we consider are max Nash welfare (MNW), when $a$, $b$, and $c$ are non-negative, and max egalitarian welfare (MEW). We show that for any distinct non-negative $a$, $b$, and $c$, maximizing Nash welfare is APX-hard -- i.e., the problem does not admit a PTAS unless P = NP. We also show that for any distinct $a$, $b$, and $c$, maximizing egalitarian welfare is APX-hard except for a few cases when $b = 0$ that admit efficient algorithms. These results make significant progress towards completely characterizing the complexity of computing exact MNW allocations and MEW allocations. En route, we resolve open questions left by prior work regarding the complexity of computing MNW allocations under bivalued valuations, and MEW allocations under ternary mixed manna.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2403_00943
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle On the Hardness of Fair Allocation under Ternary Valuations
Fitzsimmons, Zack
Viswanathan, Vignesh
Zick, Yair
Computer Science and Game Theory
We study the problem of fair allocation of indivisible items when agents have ternary additive valuations -- each agent values each item at some fixed integer values $a$, $b$, or $c$ that are common to all agents. The notions of fairness we consider are max Nash welfare (MNW), when $a$, $b$, and $c$ are non-negative, and max egalitarian welfare (MEW). We show that for any distinct non-negative $a$, $b$, and $c$, maximizing Nash welfare is APX-hard -- i.e., the problem does not admit a PTAS unless P = NP. We also show that for any distinct $a$, $b$, and $c$, maximizing egalitarian welfare is APX-hard except for a few cases when $b = 0$ that admit efficient algorithms. These results make significant progress towards completely characterizing the complexity of computing exact MNW allocations and MEW allocations. En route, we resolve open questions left by prior work regarding the complexity of computing MNW allocations under bivalued valuations, and MEW allocations under ternary mixed manna.
title On the Hardness of Fair Allocation under Ternary Valuations
topic Computer Science and Game Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2403.00943