The P-Value for Cost Sharing in Minimum Cost Spanning Tree Situations

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to introduce and axiomatically characterize the P-value as a rule to solve the cost sharing problem in minimum cost spanning tree (mcst) situations. The P-value is related to the Kruskal algorithm for finding an mcst. Moreover, the P-value leads to a core allocation of the corresponding mcst game, and when applied also to the mcst subsituations, it delivers a population monotonic allocation scheme. A conewise positive linearity property is one of the basic ingredients of an axiomatic characterization of the P-value.

Keywords: Cost sharing, minimum cost spanning tree games, value, population monotonic allocation schemes