How to select fair improving directions in a negotiation model over continuous issues

We present a new constructive approach for finding Pareto optimal agreements in two-party negotiations over continuous issues. The procedure results in Pareto optimal agreements under fairly general assumptions, and it uses a mediator, e.g. a person or software, who assists the decision makers in choosing jointly beneficial compromises. The procedure has the appealing feature that the decision makers are only required to answer relatively simple questions, and that their individual utility functions need not be identified completely.