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JOURNALS // Matematicheskaya Teoriya Igr i Ee Prilozheniya // Archive

Mat. Teor. Igr Pril., 2025 Volume 17, Issue 3, Pages 71–91 (Mi mgta372)

The price of anarchy in the congestion game with flow constraints

Alexandr Yu. Krylatovab, Tian-Tian Qiaob

a Saint Petersburg State University
b Institute of Transport Problems of RAS

Abstract: This paper considers the congestion game with flow constraints. If the total number of players is usually specified in the congestion game, and the flow of players assigned to each of the alternatives is, generally speaking, elastic, then in the formulation considered in this paper, the flow of players can be limited for each of the available alternatives and in total. The paper provides a general formulation of the congestion game with flow constraints and studies the space of its solutions. We estimate the price of anarchy for different numbers of players, which helps us determine when the game's equilibrium assignment is close to the social optimum and when it deviates. Finally, we condider examples of practical problems and cases that can be modeled and described using the corresponding game.

Keywords: congestion game, flow constraints, Nash equilibrium.

UDC: 656.02 + 51-74
BBK: 22.18

Received: 11.06.2025
Revised: 20.07.2025
Accepted: 15.09.2025



© Steklov Math. Inst. of RAS, 2026