Abstract
In many service systems, customers acting to maximize their individual utility (selfish customers) will result in a policy that does not maximize their overall utility; this effect is known as the Price of Anarchy (PoA). More specifically, the PoA, defined to be the ratio of selfish utility (the overall average utility for selfish customers) to collective utility (the overall average utility if customers act to maximize their overall average utility) is generally less than one. Of course, when the environment is fixed, the best case PoA is one, by definition of the maximization problem. However, we show that in systems with feedback, where the environment may change depending on customer behavior, there can be a Benefit of Anarchy, i.e., we can have a PoA that is strictly larger than one. We give an example based on a Stackelberg game between a service provider and customers in a singleserver queue.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
