Program or application to create randomized lists of assets?
June 27, 2017 10:52 AM Subscribe
I'm helping some family members divide property following a death. Is there a program I could use to generate randomized groupings of assets with each grouping having equal value?
The deceased person had a lot of artworks and collectibles of widely ranging values. For long-story reasons, nobody will be able to agree on a division and it would be hard to do it on a "taking turns" basis because the assets have very different values, so whoever goes first will have a big advantage and it will be hard to make equal-value shares that way. For legal reasons, we are supposed to divide the assets in-kind rather than just selling them and dividing the cash. Is there a program or some automated way that I could have a computer generate equal "shares" of the estate by making randomized combinations of assets? I would use an appraisal for the values and ask the computer to divide the assets into X subgroups of equal value on a randomized basis. Then I would have each person draw a number out of a hat and they would get one of the subgroupings. I could do all of this manually but, for long-story reasons, it would be better if it was randomized.
The deceased person had a lot of artworks and collectibles of widely ranging values. For long-story reasons, nobody will be able to agree on a division and it would be hard to do it on a "taking turns" basis because the assets have very different values, so whoever goes first will have a big advantage and it will be hard to make equal-value shares that way. For legal reasons, we are supposed to divide the assets in-kind rather than just selling them and dividing the cash. Is there a program or some automated way that I could have a computer generate equal "shares" of the estate by making randomized combinations of assets? I would use an appraisal for the values and ask the computer to divide the assets into X subgroups of equal value on a randomized basis. Then I would have each person draw a number out of a hat and they would get one of the subgroupings. I could do all of this manually but, for long-story reasons, it would be better if it was randomized.
This is, more or less, the bin-packing problem/algorithm (slightly rephrased, but same idea -- x bins, set S of values, want to minimize the difference in value between the bins -- it almost sounds like the partition problem but can be reduced to bin packing). The wiki gives you a few general algorithms to try, so worth looking at.
posted by k5.user at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
posted by k5.user at 11:38 AM on June 27, 2017 [2 favorites]
It might be more a little bit more "fair" for it to be algorithmic rather than randomized.
For example, for 100 items to be split into 10 groupings.
1. Make a list of assets in order of descending value, and assign them numbers from 1 to 100.
2. Put items #1 through #10 into Groups 1 through 10. Now each group has a high value item.
3. Now put items #11 through 20 into Groups 10 through 1, filling in reverse order so the person who got a super high value item in the first round (item #1), gets a lower value item (#20) in the second row.
4. Like oxen plowing a field (boustrophedon) -- do this a few times, while keeping track of each group's subtotals.
5. In the final several rounds, use the small value items to fill in until each group is roughly equal.
This can be done manually in Excel faster than writing a program.
It is arguably more fair because randomizing can introduce inequalities.
Get an outsider to make the appraisals, and create the list of items.
Give the list of items (# and value only, no descriptions) to a second outsider to do the groupings.
Tell people about the process and that it was double-blinded anonymized.
Then do the drawing out of a hat.
posted by metaseeker at 11:47 AM on June 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
For example, for 100 items to be split into 10 groupings.
1. Make a list of assets in order of descending value, and assign them numbers from 1 to 100.
2. Put items #1 through #10 into Groups 1 through 10. Now each group has a high value item.
3. Now put items #11 through 20 into Groups 10 through 1, filling in reverse order so the person who got a super high value item in the first round (item #1), gets a lower value item (#20) in the second row.
4. Like oxen plowing a field (boustrophedon) -- do this a few times, while keeping track of each group's subtotals.
5. In the final several rounds, use the small value items to fill in until each group is roughly equal.
This can be done manually in Excel faster than writing a program.
It is arguably more fair because randomizing can introduce inequalities.
Get an outsider to make the appraisals, and create the list of items.
Give the list of items (# and value only, no descriptions) to a second outsider to do the groupings.
Tell people about the process and that it was double-blinded anonymized.
Then do the drawing out of a hat.
posted by metaseeker at 11:47 AM on June 27, 2017 [8 favorites]
A random method may be fair, but may be inefficient and will certainly be arbitrary.
Do the "legal reasons" prevent you from dividing the items auction-style? Only the bequestees would bid, of course, and the proceeds would be combined with the liquid parts of the estate. If the "in-kind" rule is strict, you could run an auction with a fake, record-keeping currency (i.e. assign each bequestee 1000 inheritance-simoleons which can only be used for the auction.)
The advantage is that each bequestee is on the same footing: nobody gets to go first; nobody gets a good dice roll, everybody gets a shot at every item. Also, it eliminates the need for a central appraisal which would likely be controversial itself. Instead, an auction allows for individuals to have different valuations and bid accordingly (e.g. for sentimental reasons).
posted by lozierj at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2017
Do the "legal reasons" prevent you from dividing the items auction-style? Only the bequestees would bid, of course, and the proceeds would be combined with the liquid parts of the estate. If the "in-kind" rule is strict, you could run an auction with a fake, record-keeping currency (i.e. assign each bequestee 1000 inheritance-simoleons which can only be used for the auction.)
The advantage is that each bequestee is on the same footing: nobody gets to go first; nobody gets a good dice roll, everybody gets a shot at every item. Also, it eliminates the need for a central appraisal which would likely be controversial itself. Instead, an auction allows for individuals to have different valuations and bid accordingly (e.g. for sentimental reasons).
posted by lozierj at 1:34 PM on June 27, 2017
The math can be a bit esoteric, but this is a well studied theoretical problem. Fair Item Assignment Maybe you can find an appealing looking option there.
posted by vegetableagony at 5:16 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by vegetableagony at 5:16 PM on June 30, 2017
Actually even better, someone has already coded up an implementation of a fair item assignment algorithm that you can use for free. Spliddit
posted by vegetableagony at 5:21 PM on June 30, 2017
posted by vegetableagony at 5:21 PM on June 30, 2017
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Post online or at a college, offer some minimal financial incentive and you should get plenty of applicants.
posted by exolstice at 11:03 AM on June 27, 2017