Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy

An analysis of the loss in performance caused by selfish, uncoordinated behavior in networks.
Most of us prefer to commute by the shortest route available, without taking into account the traffic congestion that we cause for others. Many networks, including computer networks, suffer from some type of this "selfish routing." In Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy, Tim Roughgarden studies the loss of social welfare caused by selfish, uncoordinated behavior in networks. He quantifies the price of anarchy―the worst-possible loss of social welfare from selfish routing―and also discusses several methods for improving the price of anarchy with centralized control.
Roughgarden begins with a relatively nontechnical introduction to selfish routing, describing two important examples that motivate the problems that follow. The first, Pigou's Example, demonstrates that selfish behavior need not generate a socially optimal outcome. The second, the counterintiuitve Braess's Paradox, shows that network improvements can degrade network performance. He then develops techniques for quantifying the price of anarchy (with Pigou's Example playing a central role). Next, he analyzes Braess's Paradox and the computational complexity of detecting it algorithmically, and he describes Stackelberg routing, which improves the price of anarchy using a modest degree of central control. Finally, he defines several open problems that may inspire further research. Roughgarden's work will be of interest not only to researchers and graduate students in theoretical computer science and optimization but also to other computer scientists, as well as to economists, electrical engineers, and mathematicians.

Computers & Technology

Roughgarden, Tim

Computer Science

The MIT Press

An analysis of the loss in performance caused by selfish, uncoordinated behavior in networks. Most of us prefer to commute by the shortest route available, without taking into account the traffic congestion that we cause for others. Many networks, including computer networks, suffer from some type of this "selfish routing." In Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy, Tim Roughgarden studies the loss of social welfare caused by selfish, uncoordinated behavior in networks. He quantifies the price of anarchy-the worst-possible loss of social welfare from selfish routing-and also discusses several methods for improving the price of anarchy with centralized control. Roughgarden begins with a relatively nontechnical introduction to selfish routing, describing two important examples that motivate the problems that follow. The first, Pigou's Example, demonstrates that selfish behavior need not generate a socially optimal outcome. The second, the counterintiuitve Braess's Paradox, shows that network improvements can degrade network performance. He then develops techniques for quantifying the price of anarchy (with Pigou's Example playing a central role). Next, he analyzes Braess's Paradox and the computational complexity of detecting it algorithmically, and he describes Stackelberg routing, which improves the price of anarchy using a modest degree of central control. Finally, he defines several open problems that may inspire further research. Roughgarden's work will be of interest not only to researchers and graduate students in theoretical computer science and optimization but also to other computer scientists, as well as to economists, electrical engineers, and mathematicians.

Networking & Cloud Computing

MIT Press]

Accessible, no-nonsense, and programming language-agnostic introduction to algorithms. Includes solutions to all quizzes and selected problems, and a series of YouTube videos by the author accompanies the book. Part 1 covers asymptotic analysis and big-O notation, divide-and-conquer algorithms and the master method, randomized algorithms, and several famous algorithms for sorting and selection.

Algorithms Illuminated: Part 1: The Basics

Soundlikeyourself Publishing

Accessible, no-nonsense, and programming language-agnostic introduction to algorithms. Includes solutions to all quizzes and selected problems, and a series of YouTube videos by the author accompanies the book. Part 2 covers graph search and its applications, shortest-path algorithms, and the applications and implementation of several data structures: heaps, search trees, hash tables, and bloom filters. (Part 1 is not a prerequisite.)

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 2): Graph Algorithms and Data Structures

Soundlikeyourself Publishing, LLC

Accessible, no-nonsense, and programming language-agnostic introduction to algorithms. Includes hints or solutions to all quizzes and problems, and a series of YouTube videos by the author accompanies the book. Part 3 covers greedy algorithms (scheduling, minimum spanning trees, clustering, Huffman codes) and dynamic programming (knapsack, sequence alignment, shortest paths, optimal search trees).

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 3): Greedy Algorithms and Dynamic Programming

Fourth book in a series that provides an accessible, no-nonsense, and programming language-agnostic introduction to algorithms. Includes hints of solutions to all quizzes and problems, and a series of YouTube videos by the author accompanies the book. Part 4 covers algorithmic tools for tackling NP-hard problems (heuristic algorithms, local search, dynamic programming, MIP and SAT solvers) and techniques for quickly recognizing NP-hard problems in the wild.

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 4): Algorithms for NP-Hard Problems

In Algorithms Illuminated, Tim Roughgarden teaches the basics of algorithms in the most accessible way imaginable. This Omnibus Edition contains the complete text of Parts 1-4, with thorough coverage of asymptotic analysis, graph search and shortest paths, data structures, divide-and-conquer algorithms, greedy algorithms, dynamic programming, and NP-hard problems. Hundreds of worked examples, quizzes, and exercises, plus comprehensive online videos, help readers become better programmers; sharpen their analytical skills; learn to think algorithmically; acquire literacy with computer science's greatest hits; and ace their technical interviews.

Algorithms Illuminated: Omnibus Edition

Programming

Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory

Computer science and economics have engaged in a lively interaction over the past fifteen years, resulting in the new field of algorithmic game theory. Many problems that are central to modern computer science, ranging from resource allocation in large networks to online advertising, involve interactions between multiple self-interested parties. Economics and game theory offer a host of useful models and definitions to reason about such problems. The flow of ideas also travels in the other direction, and concepts from computer science are increasingly important in economics. This book grew out of the author's Stanford University course on algorithmic game theory, and aims to give students and other newcomers a quick and accessible introduction to many of the most important concepts in the field. The book also includes case studies on online advertising, wireless spectrum auctions, kidney exchange, and network management.

Cambridge University Press

Communication Complexity (for Algorithm Designers) collects the lecture notes from the author's eponymous course taught at Stanford in the winter quarter of 2015. The two primary goals of the text are: (1) Learn several canonical problems in communication complexity that are useful for proving lower bounds for algorithms (Disjointness, Index, Gap-Hamming, and so on). (2) Learn how to reduce lower bounds for fundamental algorithmic problems to communication complexity lower bounds. Along the way, readers will also get exposure to a lot of cool computational models and some famous results about them - data streams and linear sketches, compressive sensing, space-query time trade-offs in data structures, sublinear-time algorithms, and the extension complexity of linear programs. We also scratch the surface of techniques for proving communication complexity lower bounds (fooling sets, corruption arguments, and so on). Readers are assumed to be familiar with undergraduate-level algorithms, as well as the statements of standard large deviation inequalities (Markov, Chebyshev, and Chernoff- Hoeffding).

Communication Complexity (for Algorithm Designers) (Foundations and Trends(r) in Theoretical Computer Science)

Now Publishers

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roughgarden, Tim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Roughgarden, Tim

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Roughgarden, Tim. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy

Selfish Routing and the Price of Anarchy

Algorithms Illuminated: Part 1: The Basics

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 2): Graph Algorithms and Data Structures

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 3): Greedy Algorithms and Dynamic Programming

Algorithms Illuminated (Part 4): Algorithms for NP-Hard Problems

Algorithms Illuminated: Omnibus Edition

Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory

Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory

Communication Complexity (for Algorithm Designers) (Foundations and Trends(r) in Theoretical Computer Science)