Exploring a Branching Structure: A Bandit Problem with Correlated Pay-offs
Alison Hole and Godfrey Keller
Published 1994
This paper presents a model of a search process for the best outcome of many multi-stage projects. The branching structure of the search environment is such that the pay-offs to various actions are correlated; nevertheless, it is shown that the optimal strategy is given by a simple reservation price rule. A simple model of R&D is provided as an example.