IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/arx/papers/2511.22027.html

Local unanimity in Shapley-Scarf housing markets

Author

Listed:
  • Xinquan Hu
  • Jun Zhang

Abstract

In the housing market model introduced by Shapley and Scarf (1974), we propose a new axiom, local unanimity, that extends the unanimity condition widely used in social choice theory. It applies the unanimity condition to any subset of agents in the model who unanimously agree on the best exchange of their endowments. Building on this axiom, we provide several concise characterizations of the Top Trading Cycles (TTC) mechanism under both strict and weak preference domains.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinquan Hu & Jun Zhang, 2025. "Local unanimity in Shapley-Scarf housing markets," Papers 2511.22027, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2511.22027
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://arxiv.org/pdf/2511.22027
    File Function: Latest version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ehlers, Lars, 2014. "Top trading with fixed tie-breaking in markets with indivisible goods," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 64-87.
    2. Coreno, Jacob & Feng, Di, 2025. "Characterizing TTC via endowments-swapping-proofness and truncation-proofness," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    3. Shohei Takagi & Shigehiro Serizawa, 2010. "An impossibility theorem for matching problems," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 35(2), pages 245-266, July.
    4. Altuntaş, Açelya & Phan, William & Tamura, Yuki, 2023. "Some characterizations of Generalized Top Trading Cycles," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 156-181.
    5. Bade, Sophie, 2019. "Matching with single-peaked preferences," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 81-99.
    6. Miyagawa, Eiichi, 2002. "Strategy-Proofness and the Core in House Allocation Problems," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 347-361, February.
    7. Fujinaka, Yuji & Wakayama, Takuma, 2018. "Endowments-swapping-proof house allocation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 187-202.
    8. Afacan, Mustafa Oğuz & Hu, Gaoji & Li, Jiangtao, 2024. "Housing markets since Shapley and Scarf," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    9. Feng, Di & Klaus, Bettina & Klijn, Flip, 2024. "Characterizing the typewise top-trading-cycles mechanism for multiple-type housing markets," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 234-254.
    10. Shapley, Lloyd & Scarf, Herbert, 1974. "On cores and indivisibility," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 23-37, March.
    11. Thayer Morrill, 2013. "An alternative characterization of top trading cycles," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 54(1), pages 181-197, September.
    12. Hu, Xinquan & Zhang, Jun, 2024. "Characterization of Top Trading Cycles with single-dipped preferences," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    13. Tamura, Yuki, 2023. "Object reallocation problems with single-dipped preferences," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 181-196.
    14. Ekici, Özgün, 2024. "Pair-efficient reallocation of indivisible objects," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 19(2), May.
    15. Anna Bogomolnaia & Herve Moulin, 2004. "Random Matching Under Dichotomous Preferences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 72(1), pages 257-279, January.
    16. Ma, Jinpeng, 1994. "Strategy-Proofness and the Strict Core in a Market with Indivisibilities," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 23(1), pages 75-83.
    17. Klaus, Bettina, 2011. "Competition and resource sensitivity in marriage and roommate markets," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 72(1), pages 172-186, May.
    18. Gibbard, Allan, 1973. "Manipulation of Voting Schemes: A General Result," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(4), pages 587-601, July.
    19. Manabu Toda, 2006. "Monotonicity and Consistency in Matching Markets," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 34(1), pages 13-31, April.
    20. Takamiya, Koji, 2001. "Coalition strategy-proofness and monotonicity in Shapley-Scarf housing markets," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 201-213, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sumit Goel & Yuki Tamura, 2025. "TTC Domains," Papers 2501.15422, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2025.
    2. Morrill, Thayer & Roth, Alvin E., 2024. "Top trading cycles," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    3. Chen, Yajing & Jiao, Zhenhua & Zhang, Chenfeng & Zhang, Luosai, 2025. "Some new characterizations of top trading cycles," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    4. Ekici, Özgün & Sethuraman, Jay, 2024. "Characterizing the TTC rule via pair-efficiency: A short proof," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    5. Mandal, Pinaki, 2025. "Efficient reallocation of indivisible resources: Pair-efficiency versus Pareto-efficiency," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    6. Fujinaka, Yuji & Miyakawa, Toshiji, 2020. "Ex-post incentive compatible and individually rational assignments in housing markets with interdependent values," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 157-164.
    7. Feng, Di, 2025. "Efficiency in multiple-type housing markets," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    8. Joseph Root & David S. Ahn, 2020. "Incentives and Efficiency in Constrained Allocation Mechanisms," Papers 2006.06776, arXiv.org, revised Nov 2025.
    9. Pinaki Mandal, 2025. "Efficient reallocation of indivisible resources: Pair-efficiency versus Pareto-efficiency," Papers 2506.15169, arXiv.org.
    10. Fujinaka, Yuji & Wakayama, Takuma, 2018. "Endowments-swapping-proof house allocation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 187-202.
    11. Hu, Xinquan & Zhang, Jun, 2024. "Characterization of Top Trading Cycles with single-dipped preferences," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    12. Atila Abdulkadiroglu & Tommy Andersson, 2022. "School Choice," NBER Working Papers 29822, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Chen, Yajing & Zhao, Fang, 2021. "Alternative characterizations of the top trading cycles rule in housing markets," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 201(C).
    14. Marek Pycia & M. Utku Ünver, 2016. "Arrovian Efficiency in Allocation of Discrete Resources," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 916, Boston College Department of Economics.
    15. Yajing Chen & Zhenhua Jiao & Chenfeng Zhang & Luosai Zhang, 2021. "The Machiavellian frontier of top trading cycles," Papers 2106.14456, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2024.
    16. Bettina Klaus & David F. Manlove & Francesca Rossi, 2014. "Matching under Preferences," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 14.07, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.
    17. Tommy ANDERSSON & Lars EHLERS & Lars-Gunnar SVENSSON, 2014. "Transferring Ownership of Public Housing to Existing Tenants : A Mechanism Design Approach," Cahiers de recherche 09-2014, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
    18. Tang, Qianfeng & Zhu, Zhan, 2025. "Ekici’s reclaim-proof allocations revisited," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    19. Yuji Fujinaka & Takuma Wakayama, 2011. "Secure implementation in Shapley–Scarf housing markets," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 48(1), pages 147-169, September.
    20. Di Feng & Bettina Klaus & Flip Klijn, 2022. "A Characterization of the Coordinate-Wise Top-Trading-Cycles Mechanism for Multiple-Type Housing Markets," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'économie 22.06, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, Département d’économie.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2511.22027. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: arXiv administrators (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://arxiv.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.