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Recent results on conditions for the existence of average optimal stationary policies

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Abstract

This paper concerns countable state space Markov decision processes endowed with a (long-run expected)average reward criterion. For these models we summarize and, in some cases,extend some recent results on sufficient conditions to establish the existence of optimal stationary policies. The topics considered are the following: (i) the new assumptions introduced by Sennott in [20–23], (ii)necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a bounded solution to the optimality equation, and (iii) equivalence of average optimality criteria. Some problems are posed.

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This research was partially supported by the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) under Grant No. TWAS RG MP 898-152.

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Cavazos-Cadena, R. Recent results on conditions for the existence of average optimal stationary policies. Ann Oper Res 28, 3–27 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02055572

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