Includes bibliographical references (p. 35-37).

Local search algorithms for combinatorial optimization problems are in general of pseudopolynomial running time and polynomial-time algorithms are often not known for finding locally optimal solutions for NP-hard optimization problems. We introduce the concept of epsilon-local optimality and...

Supported by the organizations who participate in the Program in Systems Thinking. Supported by the New Management Style at the Sloan School of Management, MIT.

Motivated by electronic commerce, this paper is a mechanism design study for sellers of multiple identical items. In the market environment we consider, participants are risk neutral and time-sensitive, with the same discount factor; potential buyers have unit demand and arrive sequentially...

"The research reported in this paper was supported by a grant from the General Electric Foundation."