Fair Resource Allocation in A Volatile Marketplace

Abstract

We consider the setting where a seller must allocate a collection of goods to budgeted buyers, as exemplified by online advertising systems where platforms decide which impressions to serve to various advertisers. Such resource allocation problems are challenging for two reasons: (a) the seller must strike a balance between optimizing her own revenues and guaranteeing fairness to her (repeat) buyers and (b) the problem is inherently dynamic due to the uncertain, time-varying supply of goods available with the seller.