Continuous opinion dynamics of multidimensional allocation problems under bounded confidence: More dimensions lead to better chances for consensus

Abstract

We study multidimensional continuous opinion dynamics, where opinions are nonnegative vectors which components sum up to one. Examples of such opinions are budgets or other allocation vectors which display a distribution of a fixed amount of ressource to n projects. We use the opinion dynamics models of Deffuant-Weisbuch and Hegselmann-Krause, which both extend naturally to more dimensional opinions. They both rely on bounded confidence of the agents and differ in their communication regime. We show detailed simulation results regarding $n=2,...,8$ and the bound of confidence $\eps$. Number, location and size of opinion clusters in the stabilized opinion profiles are of interest. Known differences of both models repeat under higher opinion dimensions: Higher number of clusters and more minor clusters in the Deffuant-Weisbuch model, meta-stable states in the Hegselmann-Krause model. But surprisingly, higher dimensions lead to better chances for a vast majority consensus even for lower bounds of confidence. On the other hand, the number of minority clusters rises with n, too.