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Barbanel & Brams on Two-Person Pie-Cutting Procedures

By Lawrence Solum

Julius B. Barbanel and Steven J. Brams (Union College and New York University) have posted Two-Person Pie-Cutting: The Fairest Cuts (College Mathematics Journal, Forthcoming) on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Barbanel, Brams, and Stromquist (2009) asked whether there exists a two-person moving-knife procedure that yields an envy-free, undominated, and equitable allocation of a pie. We present two procedures: One yields an envy-free, almost undominated, and almost equitable allocation, whereas the second yields an allocation with the two ?almosts? removed. The latter, however, requires broadening the definition of a ?procedure," which raises philosophical, as opposed to mathematical, issues. An analogous approach for cakes fails because of problems in eliciting truthful preferences.

Full post as published by Legal Theory Blog on May 18, 2010 (boomark / email).