Title
Hidden-Action in Network Routing
Abstract
In communication networks, such as the Internet or mobile ad-hoc networks, the actions taken by intermediate nodes or links are typically hidden from the communicating endpoints; all the endpoints can observe is whether or not the end-to-end transmission was successful. Therefore, in the absence of incentives to the contrary, rational (i.e., selfish) intermediaries may choose to forward messages at a low priority or simply not forward messages at all. Using a principal-agent model, we show how the hidden-action problem can be overcome through appropriate design of contracts in both the direct (the endpoints contract with each individual router directly) and the recursive (each router contracts with the next downstream router) cases. We further show that, depending on the network topology, per-hop or per-path monitoring may not necessarily improve the utility of the principal or the social welfare of the system.
Year
DOI
Venue
2007
10.1109/JSAC.2007.070810
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications
Keywords
Field
DocType
message passing,telecommunication network routing,telecommunication network topology,communication networks,end-to-end transmission,message forwarding,network routing,network topology,principal-agent model
Telecommunications network,Computer science,Computer network,Network topology,Game theory,Wireless ad hoc network,Router,Forward contract,One-armed router,The Internet,Distributed computing
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
25
6
0733-8716
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
7
0.63
13
Authors
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Feldman, M.170.63
Chuang, J.270.63
I. Stoica3214061710.11
Scott Shenker4298922677.04