N-person envy-free chore division

Abstract

In contrast to the classical cake-cutting problem (how to fairly divide a desirable object), "chore division" is the problem of how to divide an undesirable object. We develop the first explicit algorithm for envy-free chore division among N people, a counterpart to the N-person envy-free cake-division solution of Brams-Taylor (1995). This is accomplished by exploiting a notion of "irrevocable advantage" for chores. We discuss the differences between cake-cutting and chore division and additional problems encountered in chore division.

7 pages, 1 figure. See related work at http://www.math.hmc.edu/~su/papers.html