Published February 9, 2022 | Version Submitted
Discussion Paper Open

Stable allocations in discrete economies

Abstract

We study discrete allocation problems, as in the textbook notion of an exchange economy, but with indivisible goods. The problem is well-known to be difficult. The model is rich enough to encode some of the most pathological bargaining configurations in game theory, like the roommate problem. Our contribution is to show the existence of stable allocations (outcomes in the weak core, or in the bargaining set) under different sets of assumptions. Specifically, we consider dichotomous preferences, categorical economies, and discrete TU markets. The paper uses varied techniques, from Scarf's balanced games to a generalization of the TTC algorithm by means of Tarski fixed points.

Additional Information

Echenique thanks the National Science Foundation for its support through the grants SES 1558757 and CNS 1518941.

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
115374
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20220707-170601103

Related works

Funding

NSF
SES-1558757
NSF
CNS-1518941

Dates

Created
2022-07-08
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2023-06-02
Created from EPrint's last_modified field