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Two-sided matching with indifferences

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  • Erdil, Aytek
  • Ergin, Haluk

Abstract

Most of the two-sided matching literature maintains the assumption that agents are never indifferent between any two members of the opposite side. In practice, however, ties in preferences arise naturally and are widespread. Market design needs to handle ties carefully, because in the presence of indifferences, stability no longer implies Pareto efficiency, and the deferred acceptance algorithm cannot be applied to produce a Pareto efficient or a worker-optimal stable matching.

Suggested Citation

  • Erdil, Aytek & Ergin, Haluk, 2017. "Two-sided matching with indifferences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 268-292.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:171:y:2017:i:c:p:268-292
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2017.07.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Mustafa Oğuz Afacan & Umut Mert Dur, 2020. "Constrained stability in two-sided matching markets," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 55(3), pages 477-494, October.
    2. Li, Mengling, 2020. "Ties matter: Improving efficiency in course allocation by allowing ties," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 354-384.
    3. Agustín G. Bonifacio & Noelia Juarez & Pablo Neme & Jorge Oviedo, 2024. "Core and stability notions in many-to-one matching markets with indifferences," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 53(1), pages 143-157, March.
    4. Aziz, Haris & Brandl, Florian, 2022. "The vigilant eating rule: A general approach for probabilistic economic design with constraints," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 168-187.
    5. Rohan Chowdhury, 2023. "A simple matching domain with indifferences and a master list," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 27(2), pages 287-311, June.
    6. Christian Haas & Margeret Hall, 2019. "Two-Sided Matching for mentor-mentee allocations—Algorithms and manipulation strategies," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(3), pages 1-27, March.
    7. Reischmann, Tobias & Klein, Thilo & Giegerich, Sven, 2021. "An iterative deferred acceptance mechanism for decentralized, fast and fair childcare assignment," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-095, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    8. Schwartz, Jacob & Song, Kyungchul, 2024. "The law of large numbers for large stable matchings," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 241(1).
    9. Sun, Ning & Yang, Zaifu, 2021. "Efficiency, stability, and commitment in senior level job matching markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    10. Haris Aziz & Florian Brandl, 2020. "The Vigilant Eating Rule: A General Approach for Probabilistic Economic Design with Constraints," Papers 2008.08991, arXiv.org, revised Jul 2021.
    11. Afacan, Mustafa Oğuz, 2022. "College admissions with tuition transfers," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 400-420.
    12. Rong Wang & Li Xu & Hashim Zameer & Yasir Ahmed Solangi, 2020. "Modeling Two-Sided Matching Considering Agents’ Psychological Behavior Based on Regret Theory," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(2), pages 21582440209, June.
    13. Christian Haas, 2021. "Two-Sided Matching with Indifferences: Using Heuristics to Improve Properties of Stable Matchings," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 57(4), pages 1115-1148, April.
    14. Aditya Kuvalekar, 2022. "Matching with Incomplete Preferences," Papers 2212.02613, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2023.
    15. Maxey, Tyler, 2024. "School choice with costly information acquisition," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 248-268.
    16. Tobias Reischmann & Thilo Klein & Sven Giegerich, 2021. "A deferred acceptance mechanism for decentralized, fast, and fair childcare assignment," The Journal of Mechanism and Institution Design, Society for the Promotion of Mechanism and Institution Design, University of York, vol. 6(1), pages 59-100, December.
    17. Alva, Samson & Manjunath, Vikram, 2019. "Strategy-proof Pareto-improvement," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 181(C), pages 121-142.
    18. Mustafa Oguz Afacan & Nejat Anbarci & Ozgur Kıbrıs, 2022. "Arbiter Assignment," Working Papers 2022_02, Durham University Business School.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Two-sided matching; Matching with ties; Matching with indifferences; Efficient and stable matching;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • D47 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Market Design
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact

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