of interpersonal welfare comparability. Rule (b) labels all policies optimal if the state space obeys a weak diversity condition. Since the probabilities of states are irrelevant for this result, only a small perturbation of a model with no uncertainty generates policy paralysis.

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this dilemma is the regret, that is the loss due to the fact that the globally optimal policy is not followed all the times. One of the simplest examples of the exploration/exploitation dilemma is the multi-armed bandit problem. Lai and Robbins were the first ones to show that the regret for this problem has

In the wake of the Mexican and Asian currency turmoil, the subject of financial crises has come to the forefront of academic and policy discussions. This paper analyzes the links between banking and currency crises. We find that: problems in the banking sector typically precede a currency crisis

. We study the problem of scheduling the server activation under the constraints imposed by the dependency among them. The performance criterion of a scheduling policy m is its throughput that is characterized by its stability region C,, that is, the set of vectors of arrival rates for which the system

We propose a new approach to reinforcement learning for control problems which combines value-function approximation with linear architectures and approximate policy iteration. This new approach

We identify the trust management problem as a distinct and important component of security in network services. Aspects of the trust management problem include formulating security policies and security credentials, determining whether particular sets of credentials satisfy the relevant policies

A constraint that actions can depend on observations only through a communication channel with finite Shannon capacity is shown to be able to play a role very similar to that of a signal extraction problem or an adjustment cost in standard control problems. The resulting theory looks enough like

-related methods, showing how they provide a unifying framework for modeling many classes of planning problems studied in AI. It also describes structural properties of MDPs that, when exhibited by particular classes of problems, can be exploited in the construction of optimal or approximately optimal policies

of the United Nations draw to review common problems and take stock of policy options; (ii) it facilitates the negotiations of Member States in many intergovernmental bodies on joint courses of action to address ongoing or emerging global challenges; and (iii) it advises interested Governments on the ways