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The “Boston” school-choice mechanism: an axiomatic approach

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  • Fuhito Kojima
  • M. Ünver

Abstract

The Boston mechanism is a popular student-placement mechanism in school-choice programs around the world. We provide two characterizations of the Boston mechanism. We introduce two new axioms; favoring higher ranks and rank-respecting invariance. A mechanism is the Boston mechanism for some priority if and only if it favors higher ranks and satisfies consistency, resource monotonicity, and rank-respecting invariance. In environments where each type of object has exactly one unit, as in house allocation, a characterization is given by favoring higher ranks, individual rationality, population monotonicity, and rank-respecting invariance. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

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  • Fuhito Kojima & M. Ünver, 2014. "The “Boston” school-choice mechanism: an axiomatic approach," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 55(3), pages 515-544, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:55:y:2014:i:3:p:515-544
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-013-0769-8
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Mechanism design; Matching; School choice; Market design; Boston mechanism; C78; D78;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D78 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Positive Analysis of Policy Formulation and Implementation

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