Robust Minimal Instability of the Top Trading Cycles Mechanism

31 Pages Posted: 7 Apr 2020 Last revised: 5 Jan 2021

See all articles by Battal Doğan

Battal Doğan

School of Economics, University of Bristol

Lars Ehlers

University of Montreal - Département de Sciences Economiques and CIREQ

Date Written: December 13, 2020

Abstract

In the context of priority-based allocation of objects, we formulate methods to compare assignments in terms of their stability. We introduce three basic properties that a reasonable stability comparison should satisfy. We show that, for any stability comparison satisfying the three properties, the top trading cycles mechanism is minimally unstable among efficient and strategy-proof mechanisms when objects have unit capacities. Our unifying approach covers basically all natural stability comparisons and establishes the robustness of a recent result by Abdulkadiroglu et al. (2020). When objects have non-unit capacities, we characterize the capacity-priority structures for which our result is preserved.

Suggested Citation

Doğan, Battal and Ehlers, Lars, Robust Minimal Instability of the Top Trading Cycles Mechanism (December 13, 2020). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3555762 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3555762

Battal Doğan (Contact Author)

School of Economics, University of Bristol ( email )

United Kingdom

Lars Ehlers

University of Montreal - Département de Sciences Economiques and CIREQ ( email )

C.P. 6128, succursale Centre-Ville
Montreal, Quebec H3C 3J7
Canada

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