Walrasian Equilibria in Markets with Small Demands

TL;DR

This paper investigates the computational complexity of finding Walrasian equilibria in markets with agents having k-demand valuations, revealing both hardness results and efficient algorithms for specific cases.

Contribution

It extends the understanding of Walrasian equilibrium existence and complexity to k-demand valuations, providing new hardness results and polynomial-time algorithms.

Findings

Deciding Walrasian equilibrium existence is in quasi-NC for unit-demand.

NP-hardness results for k=2 and k=3 with specific valuation classes.

Polynomial-time algorithms for markets with 2-demand single-minded or unit-demand valuations.

Abstract

We study the complexity of finding a Walrasian equilibrium in markets where the agents have $k$-demand valuations. These valuations are an extension of unit-demand valuations where a bundle's value is the maximum of its $k$-subsets' values. For unit-demand agents, where the existence of a Walrasian equilibrium is guaranteed, we show that the problem is in quasi-NC. For $k=2$, we show that it is NP-hard to decide if a Walrasian equilibrium exists even if the valuations are fractionally subadditive (XOS), while for $k=3$ the hardness carries over to budget-additive valuations. In addition, we give a polynomial-time algorithm for markets with 2-demand single-minded valuations, or unit-demand valuations.