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Algorithmic recourse in sequential decision-making for long-term fairness.

Francisco Gumucio,Lu Zhang

Published 2026 in Frontiers in Big Data

ABSTRACT

Long-term fairness in sequential decision-making is critical yet challenging, as decisions at each time step influence future opportunities and outcomes, potentially exacerbating existing disparities over time. While existing methods primarily achieve fairness by directly adjusting decision models, in this work, we study a complementary perspective based on sequential algorithmic recourse, in which fairness is pursued through actionable interventions for individuals. We introduce Sequential Causal Algorithmic Recourse for Fairness (SCARF), a causally grounded framework that generates temporally coherent recourse trajectories by integrating structural causal modeling with sequential generative modeling. By explicitly incorporating both short-term and long-term fairness constraints, as well as practical budget limitations, SCARF generates personalized recourse plans that effectively mitigate disparities over multiple decision cycles. Through experiments on synthetic and semi-synthetic datasets, we empirically examine how different recourse strategies influence fairness dynamics over time, illustrating the trade-offs between short-term and long-term fairness under sequential interventions. The results demonstrate that SCARF provides a practical and informative framework for analyzing long-term fairness in dynamic decision-making settings.

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