{"type":"ScholarlyArticle","title":"Analysis and Optimization of Multi-Dimensional Percentile Mechanisms","authors":[{"name":"Xin Sui","slug":"xin-sui","given":"Xin","family":"Sui","affiliation":""},{"name":"Craig Boutilier","slug":"craig-boutilier","given":"Craig","family":"Boutilier","affiliation":""},{"name":"Tuomas Sandholm","slug":"tuomas-sandholm","given":"Tuomas","family":"Sandholm","affiliation":""}],"abstract":"We consider the mechanism design problem for agents with single-peaked preferences over multi-dimensional domains when multiple alternatives can be chosen. Facility location and committee selection are classic embodiments of this problem. We propose a class of percentile mechanisms, a form of generalized median mechanisms, that are strategy-proof, and derive worst-case approximation ratios for social cost and maximum load for L1 and L2 cost models. More importantly, we propose a sample-based framework for optimizing the choice of percentiles relative to any prior distribution over preferences, while maintaining strategy-proofness. Our empirical investigations, using social cost and maximum load as objectives, demonstrate the viability of this approach and the value of such optimized mechanisms vis-a-vis mechanisms derived through worst-case analysis.","doi":null,"url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2013/62","pdf":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2013/0062.pdf","markdown":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2013/62.md","bibtex":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2013/bibtex/62","volume":{"slug":"2013","title":"Proceedings of the Twenty-Third International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence","short_title":"IJCAI 2013","url":"https://ijcai.org/proceedings/2013/","year":2013,"location":"Beijing, China","dates":"3–9 August 2013","editors":"Francesca Rossi","isbn":"978-1-57735-633-2","publisher":"AAAI Press / International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence","doi_prefix":""},"section":null,"track":"","number":62,"pages":{"first":367,"last":373},"keywords":[],"videos":[],"references":[],"license_note":"Copyright International Joint Conferences on Artificial Intelligence."}