We consider the problem of checking first order dominance for finite bivariate distributions. We observe that this can be formulated as a special bipartite network problem related to the classical transportation problem. We exploit this observation to develop a new characterization of first...

<Para ID="Par1">In order to take into account any possible dependence between alternatives in optimization problems, bivariate characterizations of some well-know univariate stochastic orders have been defined and studied by Shanthikumar and Yao (Adv Appl Probab 23:642–659, <CitationRef CitationID="CR15">1991</CitationRef>). These characterizations gave...</citationref></para>

Let X1,…,Xn (Y1,…,Yn) be independent random variables such that Xi (Yi) follows the gamma distribution with shape parameter α and mean αλi(αμi), α0,λi0 (μi0), i=1,…,n. Let λ=(λ1,…,λn), μ=(μ1,…,μn) and let r̃n:n(λ;x) (r̃n:n(μ;x)) denote the reversed hazard rate of...