The Multi-unit Assignment Problem: Theory and Evidence from Course Allocation at Harvard.

We use theory and field data to study the draft mechanism used to allocate courses at Harvard Business School. We show that the draft is manipulable in theory, manipulated in practice, and that these manipulations cause significant welfare loss. Nevertheless, we find that welfare is higher than unde...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:American Economic Review Vol. 102; no. 5; pp. 2237 - 2272
Autores principales: Budish, Eric, Cantillon, Estelle
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: American Economic Association Aug2012
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:We use theory and field data to study the draft mechanism used to allocate courses at Harvard Business School. We show that the draft is manipulable in theory, manipulated in practice, and that these manipulations cause significant welfare loss. Nevertheless, we find that welfare is higher than under its widely studied strategyproof alternative. We identify a new link between fairness and welfare that explains why the draft performs well despite the costs of strategic behavior, and then design a new draft that reduces these costs. We draw several broader lessons for market design, regarding Pareto efficiency, fairness, and strategyproofness. (JEL D63, D82, I23)