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An Efficient, Computationally Tractable School Choice Mechanism

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew McLennan

    (School of Economics, University of Queensland)

  • Shino Takayama

    (School of Economics, University of Queensland)

  • Yuki Tamura

    (Center for Behavioral Institutional Design, NYU Abu Dhabi)

Abstract

We show that the application of the Generalized Constrained Probabilistic Serial mechanism of Balbuzanov (2022) (which generalizes the Probabilistic Serial mechanism of Bogomolnaia and Moulin (2001)) to school choice has attractive properties. The mechanism is intuitively simple, assigning to each student, at each moment in the unit interval, probability of receiving a seat in her favorite school among those that are available then. It is sd-efficient and effectively strategy proof. We provide an algorithm, based on a generalization of Hall’s marriage theorem, for computing the mechanism, which has been implemented, and seems likely to have reasonable running times even for the world’s largest school choice problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew McLennan & Shino Takayama & Yuki Tamura, 2024. "An Efficient, Computationally Tractable School Choice Mechanism," Discussion Papers Series 668, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    • Handle: RePEc:qld:uq2004:668
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    File URL: https://economics.uq.edu.au/files/49021/668.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

    School Choice; Object Allocation; Efficiency; Fairness; Strategy Proofness; Probabilistic Serial Mechanism; Hall’s Marriage Theorem.;
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