TY - GEN
T1 - Representative agents and the cold start problem in contract negotiation
AU - Cerutti, Federico
AU - Burnett, Christopher
AU - Oren, Nir
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Principal Agent Theory (PAT) seeks to identify the incentives and sanctions that a consumer should apply when entering into a contract with a provider in order to maximise their own utility. However, identifying suitable contracts-maximising utility while minimising regret- is difficult, particularly when little information is available about provider competencies. In this paper we show that a global contract can be used to govern such interactions, derived from the properties of a representative agent. After describing how such a contract can be obtained, we analyse the contract utility space and its properties. Then, we show how this contract can be used to address the cold start problem and that it significantly outperforms other approaches. Finally, we discuss how our work can be integrated with existing research into multi-agent systems.
AB - Principal Agent Theory (PAT) seeks to identify the incentives and sanctions that a consumer should apply when entering into a contract with a provider in order to maximise their own utility. However, identifying suitable contracts-maximising utility while minimising regret- is difficult, particularly when little information is available about provider competencies. In this paper we show that a global contract can be used to govern such interactions, derived from the properties of a representative agent. After describing how such a contract can be obtained, we analyse the contract utility space and its properties. Then, we show how this contract can be used to address the cold start problem and that it significantly outperforms other approaches. Finally, we discuss how our work can be integrated with existing research into multi-agent systems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84978877839&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-42691-4_3
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-42691-4_3
M3 - Published conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84978877839
SN - 9783319426907
VL - 9628
T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
SP - 42
EP - 58
BT - Coordination, Organizations, Institutions, and Normes in Agent Systems XI - COIN 2015
A2 - Dignum, Virginia
A2 - Noriega, Pablo
A2 - Sensoy, Murat
A2 - Sichman, Jaime Simão
PB - Springer-Verlag
T2 - The XIX International Workshop on Coordination, Organizations, Institutions and Norms in Multiagent Systems
Y2 - 4 May 2015 through 4 May 2015
ER -