1. Introduction
In standard systems, each contributor is either fully involved or not involved at all during operational processes with other contributors. Power indices have been employed to measure the effectiveness of all contributors within the system. For instance, contributors in a voting mechanism, such as political parties in a country or parliaments in a confederation, possess distinct amounts of votes, resulting in varied power. Several studies have investigated power indices, including Banzhaf [
1], van den Brink and van der Laan [
2], Dubey and Shapley [
3], Haller [
4], Lehrer [
5], and Owen [
6,
7], among others.
A
multi-choice system can be viewed as a logical extension of a standard system, where each contributor has multiple operational abilities. Power indices have been explored within the structure of multi-choice systems. Hwang and Liao [
8], Liao [
9,
10], and van den Nouweland et al. [
11] introduced several allocation concepts and related results by extending the core, the EANSC, and the Shapley value [
12] and defining integrated values for specific contributors under multi-choice systems. In cooperative game theory, the term power index is normally a value for simple systems, i.e., for transferable-utility cooperative systems in which each coalition can either be winning or losing; see, e.g., Bertini et al. [
13]. Thus, this study is not dealing with simple systems, but proposing and analyzing new values for multi-choice cooperative systems.
Consistency plays a crucial role in characterizing power indices within axiomatic frameworks. Consistency ensures that decisions made on any issue align with decisions made on sub-issues when the allocations of certain contributors are fixed. In addition to axiomatic procedures, dynamic procedures can also guide contributors towards a specific power index, starting from an arbitrarily useful allocation vector.
As mentioned previously, the following motivation can be taken into consideration:
Considering the above motivation, we proceed with the following steps and present related results.
We focus on the structure of
multicriteria multi-choice systems in
Section 2, which differs from that of multi-choice systems. We define a power index and its normalization for multicriteria multi-choice systems by utilizing the maximal efficacy among multi-choice allocation vectors.
To validate the rationality of these power indices, we introduce a generalized reduction in
Section 3, characterizing them. We further propose an alternative formulation that introduces dynamic procedures for the normalized power index through
discrepancy mapping.
In
Section 4, we demonstrate that contributors can achieve the normalized index by starting from an arbitrarily useful allocation vector, employing a specific reduced system and discrepancy mapping.
2. Preliminaries
Let be the universe of contributors. For and , could be taken as the ability space of contributor k and , where 0 denotes no operation. Let be the product set of the ability spaces of the total contributors of C. For all , is the vector with if , and if . Define to be the zero vector in . For , let be the zero vector in and .
Denote the multi-choice system as , where C is the collection of contributors, is the vector that shows the amount of abilities for all contributors, and is an efficacy mapping with which allots to each the value that all contributors can receive if each contributor k adopts ability . Given a multi-choice system and , one would define and to be the restriction of at K for each . Further, we define as the maximal efficacy among all ability vectors with . From now on, one should consider bounded multi-choice systems, defined as those systems such that there exists such that for all . One could apply this to ensure that is well-defined. Denote a multicriteria multi-choice system to be , where , and is a multi-choice system for each .
Let
. An
allotment vector of
is a vector
and
, where
is the allotment to contributor
i in
for each
and for each
. An allotment vector
x of
is
multicriteria useful if
for each
. The set of total multicriteria useful vectors of
is defined as
. An
index is a mapping
assigning to each
an element
where
and
is the allotment of the contributor
i assigned by
in
.
Next, we provide the maximal individual index and the maximal normalized individual index.
Definition 1. The maximal individual index (MII), η, is defined byfor each , for each , and for each . Under the index η, all contributors receive its maximal individual efficacy. An index satisfies multicriteria usefulness (MUSE) if for all and for all , . The MUSE property means that the total contributors allocate the whole efficacy entirely. It is trivial to verify that the MII violates MUSE. Hence, one would like to consider a useful normalization.
Definition 2. The maximal normalized individual index (MNII), , is defined as follows. For each , for each , and for each ,where . Under the definition of , all contributors distribute the maximal efficacy of the grand coalition proportionally via maximal individual efficacy. Lemma 1. The MNII satisfies MUSE on .
Proof. This proof can be finished easily via definitions of usefulness and the MNII. So it is omitted. □
3. Axiomatic Results
Here, one would like to present that there exists a relevant reduced system that could be introduced to axiomatize the MII and the MNII.
First, an alternative formulation for the MNII would be defined in terms of
discrepancy. Given
,
and an allotment vector
x, let
for all
. The
discrepancy of a coalition
under
x is
can be taken as the
variation among efficacy and total allotments in coalition
K if all contributors to
K receive their allotments from
in
.
Lemma 2. Let , , and . Then, Proof. Let
and
. For each
and for every
,
By (2) and (3), for every
,
That is, . Since and satisfies MUSE, . Therefore, for each and for each . That is, . □
Remark 1. It is trivial to verify that for all and for all .
Inspired by the complement-reduced systems due to Hsieh and Liao [
14] and Moulin [
15], one would like to introduced a multi-choice analogue and relative consistency. Let
be an index,
and
. The
reduced system is defined by
and
satisfies
consistency (CSY) if
for each
, for each
with
, for each
, and for each
. Unfortunately, it is trivial to verify that
for some
, for some
, and for some
, i.e.,
does not exist for some
and for some
. Thus, one would consider the
resilient consistency as follows. An index
satisfies
resilient consistency (RCSY) if
and
exist for some
and for some
with
; it holds that
for all
and for all
.
Lemma 3. - 1.
The MII satisfies CSY on Γ.
- 2.
The MNII satisfies RCSY on .
Proof. To analyze result 1, let
and
. The proof is trivial if
. Assume that
and
for some
. For each
and for each
,
That is, the MII satisfies CSY.
To analyze result 2, let
and
. The proof is trivial if
. Assume that
. If
for some
and
. Similar to (4), for each
and for each
,
By definition of
and Equation (
5),
Thus, the MNII satisfies RCSY on . □
In the following, the MII and the MNII would be characterized via CSY and RCSY.
An index satisfies individual-standard for systems (ISS) if for all with .
An index satisfies normalized-standard for systems (NSS) if for all with .
Lemma 4. If an index Φ satisfies NSS and RCSY on , then it satisfies MUSE on .
Proof. Let
. By NSS,
satisfies MUSE on
if
. Assume that
. Suppose, on the contrary, that there is
such that
for some
. This means that there exist
such that
By RCSY and
satisfies MUSE for two-person systems, this contradicts with
Hence, satisfies MUSE. □
Theorem 1. - 1.
On Γ, the MII is the only index satisfying ISS and CSY.
- 2.
On , the MNII is the only index satisfying NSS and RCSY.
Proof. By Lemma 3, and satisfy CSY and RCSY on and , respectively. Absolutely, and satisfy ISS and NSS on and , respectively.
To analyze the uniqueness of statement 1, suppose
satisfies CSY and ISS on
. Let
. If
, then
by ISS. Assume that
. Suppose that
with
. Let
and
.
Hence, for all .
To analyze the uniqueness of statement 2, assume that
satisfies RCSY and NSS on
. Further,
satisfies MUSE on
by Lemma 4. Let
. The proof will be completed by induction on
. By NSS it is trivial that
if
. Assume that it holds if
,
. The condition
: Let
and
with
. By Definition 2,
for all
. Assume that
for all
. Therefore,
The proof is completed. □
4. Dynamic Results
Here, one would like to adopt discrepancy mapping and a specific reduction to provide dynamic results for the MNII.
To establish dynamic results for the MNII, we define a switch mapping using discrepancy mappings. The switch mapping is based on the idea that each contributor minimizes the variation related to its own and others’ non-cooperation, applying these regulations to switch the original allocation.
Definition 3. Let . The switch mappingis defined to be , where and is defined bywhere and , which incarnates the assumption that contributor i does not ask for sufficient switch (if ) but only (often) a fraction of it. Define that for all . Lemma 5. for all and for all .
Proof. Let
,
,
, and
.
Hence, if . □
Theorem 2. Let . If , then converges geometrically to for each .
Proof. Let
,
,
and
. By Equation (
9) and the definition of
f,
If , then and converges to . □
Inspired by Maschler and Owen [
16], one would like to define a dynamic procedure under reductions.
Definition 4. Let Φ be an index, , and . The-reduced system is given by and for all , Inspired by Maschler and Owen [
16], different switch mapping could be defined as follows. The
R-switch mapping is
, where
and
is defined by
Define for all .
Unlike the previous concept of switch mapping, the R-switch mapping in this study operates based on the mechanism of reduced systems. It allows participants who have concerns about the allocation to seek re-participation from all other participants in the most advantageous manner before redistributing the resources. The R-switch mapping takes into account all differences between the original allocation and the new allocation obtained after participants have revisited their participation, and it subsequently corrects the original allocation accordingly.
Lemma 6. for all and for all .
Proof. Let
,
,
and
. Let
, by MUSE of
and Definition 4,
By definition of
g and Equation (
11),
Thus, for all . □
Theorem 3. Let . If , then converges to for each .
Proof. Let
,
and
. By Equation (
12),
for all
. Therefore,
If , then and converges to for all , for all and for each . □
5. Concluding Remarks
This study introduces the maximal individual index and the maximal normalized individual index, two new values for multi-choice systems. We present several axiomatic results for these indices based on reduction. Additionally, we provide alternative formulations and relative dynamic procedures for the maximal normalized individual index using reduction and discrepancy mapping. A comparison can be made between the results of this study and related existing findings:
As mentioned earlier, the following question arises:
To the best of our knowledge, these issues remain open questions.