arXiv:2503.01701cs.GTcs.LG2025-03被引 6

统一解决经济场景中分段线性收益的在线学习问题,实现更优后悔值。

Regret Minimization for Piecewise Linear Rewards: Contracts, Auctions, and Beyond

  • 基于单调性假设,设计通用在线学习算法优化分段线性收益。
  • 实现$ ilde{O}( oot ext{}{nT})$后悔界,当$n o T^{1/3}$时为紧界。
  • 解决合同设计与定价学习中的两个开放问题,适合经济学习研究者。

大多数微观经济模型涉及优化分段线性函数,包括隐藏行动下的委托-代理合同设计、固定价格拍卖中的物品销售以及第一价格拍卖中的出价策略。当相关模型参数未知且由某些未知概率分布决定时,问题转化为学习如何优化未知的随机分段线性收益函数。此类问题通常在在线学习框架下建模,决策者(学习者)旨在最小化对最优决策的后悔值。本文提出一种通用在线学习框架,可在满足微经济模型常见单调性假设下,统一处理分段线性收益的后悔最小化问题。我们设计了一种学习算法,达到$ ilde{O}( oot ext{}{nT})$的后悔界,其中 $n$ 为收益函数的分段数,$T$ 为轮次数。该结果在 $n$ 相对于 $T$ 较小时(具体为 $n \≤ T^{1/3}$)是紧的。该算法解决了文献中两个开放问题:首先,表明 Zhu 等人 [Zhu+23] 在隐藏行动委托-代理问题中获得的 $ ilde{O}(T^{2/3})$ 后悔界在代理动作数较小时并不紧;其次,证明在固定价格拍卖中设定价格的学习问题可实现理想且实例无关的后悔界,回应了 Cesa-Bianchi 等人 [CBCP19] 提出的开放问题。

原文摘要 · Abstract (English)

Most microeconomic models of interest involve optimizing a piecewise linear function. These include contract design in hidden-action principal-agent problems, selling an item in posted-price auctions, and bidding in first-price auctions. When the relevant model parameters are unknown and determined by some (unknown) probability distributions, the problem becomes learning how to optimize an unknown and stochastic piecewise linear reward function. Such a problem is usually framed within an online learning framework, where the decision-maker (learner) seeks to minimize the regret of not knowing an optimal decision in hindsight. This paper introduces a general online learning framework that offers a unified approach to tackle regret minimization for piecewise linear rewards, under a suitable monotonicity assumption commonly satisfied by microeconomic models. We design a learning algorithm that attains a regret of $\widetilde{O}(\sqrt{nT})$, where $n$ is the number of ``pieces'' of the reward function and $T$ is the number of rounds. This result is tight when $n$ is \emph{small} relative to $T$, specifically when $n \leq T^{1/3}$. Our algorithm solves two open problems in the literature on learning in microeconomic settings. First, it shows that the $\widetilde{O}(T^{2/3})$ regret bound obtained by Zhu et al. [Zhu+23] for learning optimal linear contracts in hidden-action principal-agent problems is not tight when the number of agent's actions is small relative to $T$. Second, our algorithm demonstrates that, in the problem of learning to set prices in posted-price auctions, it is possible to attain suitable (and desirable) instance-independent regret bounds, addressing an open problem posed by Cesa-Bianchi et al. [CBCP19].

在线学习经济模型后悔最小化分段线性

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