Comparing the Fairness of Recursively Balanced Picking Sequences

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Celine, Karen Frilya, Suksompong, Warut, Yuen, Sheung Man
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Celine, Karen Frilya
Suksompong, Warut
Yuen, Sheung Man
author_facet Celine, Karen Frilya
Suksompong, Warut
Yuen, Sheung Man
contents Picking sequences are well-established methods for allocating indivisible goods. Among the various picking sequences, recursively balanced picking sequences -- whereby each agent picks one good in every round -- are notable for guaranteeing allocations that satisfy envy-freeness up to one good. In this paper, we compare the fairness of different recursively balanced picking sequences using two key measures. Firstly, we demonstrate that all such sequences have the same price in terms of egalitarian welfare relative to other picking sequences. Secondly, we characterize the approximate maximin share (MMS) guarantees of these sequences. In particular, we show that compensating the agent who picks last in the first round by letting her pick first in every subsequent round yields the best MMS guarantee.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_17604
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Comparing the Fairness of Recursively Balanced Picking Sequences
Celine, Karen Frilya
Suksompong, Warut
Yuen, Sheung Man
Computer Science and Game Theory
Picking sequences are well-established methods for allocating indivisible goods. Among the various picking sequences, recursively balanced picking sequences -- whereby each agent picks one good in every round -- are notable for guaranteeing allocations that satisfy envy-freeness up to one good. In this paper, we compare the fairness of different recursively balanced picking sequences using two key measures. Firstly, we demonstrate that all such sequences have the same price in terms of egalitarian welfare relative to other picking sequences. Secondly, we characterize the approximate maximin share (MMS) guarantees of these sequences. In particular, we show that compensating the agent who picks last in the first round by letting her pick first in every subsequent round yields the best MMS guarantee.
title Comparing the Fairness of Recursively Balanced Picking Sequences
topic Computer Science and Game Theory
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.17604