动态匹配难民安置与服务资源,兼顾效率与拥堵控制。
Dynamic Matching with Post-allocation Service and its Application to Refugee Resettlement
- 基于双资源动态匹配框架,学习优化配对策略。
- 实测性能优于现有方法,降低服务拥堵与资源超配。
- 适合需实时决策的公共资源配置场景,如难民安置。
受美国一家主要难民安置机构合作启发,我们研究了一类动态匹配问题:每位新到难民必须立即且不可逆地匹配至一个具有固定年度配额的静态资源(地点)。除消耗静态资源外,每例还需由服务器提供后续服务(如翻译),而由于服务时间不确定,服务器可能在特定时刻不可用,故称为动态资源。匹配后,案件按先到先服务原则等待服务。集中式规划者面临的目标是平衡匹配收益(由配对特定就业成果体现)与动态资源拥堵成本及静态资源超配成本。鉴于难民群体构成随年份波动明显,我们设计了不依赖分布假设的学习算法。所提算法在某些条件下渐近最优,解释性强且计算快速,其核心为学习底层优化问题的对偶变量;主要挑战在于动态资源对偶变量的时变性。理论分析融合李雅普诺夫分析、对抗在线学习与随机优化技术。应用层面,在真实数据上测试并结合实际约束后,本方法显著优于现有方案,具备替代现行实践的潜力。
原文摘要 · Abstract (English)
Motivated by our collaboration with a major refugee resettlement agency in the U.S., we study a dynamic matching problem where each new arrival (a refugee case) must be matched immediately and irrevocably to one of the static resources (a location with a fixed annual quota). In addition to consuming the static resource, each case requires post-allocation services from a server, such as a translator. Given the uncertainty in service time, a server may not be available at a given time, thus we refer to it as a dynamic resource. Upon matching, the case will wait to avail service in a first-come-first-serve manner. Bursty matching to a location may result in undesirable congestion at its corresponding server. Consequently, the central planner (the agency) faces a dynamic matching problem with an objective that combines the matching reward (captured by pair-specific employment outcomes) with the cost for congestion for dynamic resources and over-allocation for the static ones. Motivated by the observed fluctuations in the composition of refugee pools across the years, we aim to design algorithms that do not rely on distributional knowledge. We develop learning-based algorithms that are asymptotically optimal in certain regimes, easy to interpret, and computationally fast. Our design is based on learning the dual variables of the underlying optimization problem; however, the main challenge lies in the time-varying nature of the dual variables associated with dynamic resources. Our theoretical development brings together techniques from Lyapunov analysis, adversarial online learning, and stochastic optimization. On the application side, when tested on real data from our partner agency and incorporating practical considerations, our method outperforms existing ones making it a viable candidate for replacing the current practice upon experimentation.
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