Decentralized allocation of resources among many producers (Q582187)

The paper examines the possibility of using market-like structures in allocation problems with a large number of producers using decentralized procedures. The assumption on the distribution of producers is that it approximates a given underlying distribution in producers space thus relaxing prior approaches which utilize i.i.d. samplings or replicas. This eliminates the assumptions of independence and identical distribution, leading to deterministic, rather than almost sure conclusions. It is shown how market-like mechanisms may be used to get a decentralized decision process which is asymptotically optimal. A variation of the model allows the optimal policy to be modified in accordance to the situation of the producers. With respect to real life situations this model is important especially when information on the distribution of agents has to be accumulated during the execution of the allocation.