Top dominance and the possibility of strategy-proof stable solutions to matching problems (Q1341500)

This paper considers the stability of matching problems (marriages and college admissions) from the strategy-proofness point of view. A first result proves that no strategy-proof mechanism can always choose marriages that are individually rational and Pareto efficient. Then, the authors consider restrictions on the preferences of agents under which strategy-proof and stable mechanisms exist. Such a condition, called top dominance, is provided. The existing mechanisms turn out to be exactly those that were already identified in the literature.