NULL PLAYERS OUT? LINEAR VALUES FOR GAMES WITH VARIABLE SUPPORTS

The paper studies the consequences of the Null Player Out (NPO) property for single-valued solutions on the class of cooperative games in characteristic function form and main emphasis lies on individual values.

Abstract

The paper studies the consequences of the Null Player Out (NPO) property for single-valued solutions on the class of cooperative games in characteristic function form. We allow for variable player populations (supports or carriers). A solution satisfies the NPO property, if elimination of a null player does not affect the payoffs of the other players. Our main emphasis lies on individual values. For linear values satisfying the null player property and a weak symmetry property, necessary and sufficient conditions for the NPO property are derived.