On Local Search in Bilevel Mixed-Integer Linear Programming

Two-level hierarchical decision-making problems, where a leader’s choice influences a follower’s action, arise across key business and public-sector domains, from market design and pricing to defense. These problems are typically modeled as bilevel programs and are known to be notoriously hard to solve at scale. In single-level combinatorial optimization, especially for challenging instances, local search … Read more

Pessimistic bilevel linear optimization

In this paper, we investigate the pessimistic bilevel linear optimization problem (PBLOP). Based on the lower level optimal value function and duality, the PBLOP can be transformed to a single-level while nonconvex and nonsmooth optimization problem. By use of linear optimization duality, we obtain a tractable and equivalent transformation and propose algorithms for computing global … Read more