Least Square Approximations and Linear Values of Cooperative Games

Many important values for cooperative games are known to arise from least square optimization problems. The present investigation develops an optimization framework to explain and clarify this phenomenon in a general setting. The main result shows that every linear value results from some least square approximation problem and that, conversely, every least square approximation problem with linear constraints yields a linear value. This approach includes and extends previous results on so-called least square values and semivalues in the literature. In particular, is it demonstrated how known explicit formulas for solutions under additional assumptions easily follow from the general results presented here.