Reverse Auction and the Solution of Inequality Constrained Assignment Problems

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Abstract
In this paper we propose auction algorithms for solving several types of assignment problems with inequality constraints. Included are asymmetric problems with dierent numbers of persons and objects, and multiassignment problems, where persons may be assigned to several objects and reversely. A central new idea in all these algorithms is to combine regular auction, where persons bid for objects by raising their prices, with reverse auction, where objects compete for persons by essentially oering discounts. Reverse auction can also be used to accelerate substantially (and