Centralized Matching with Incomplete Information

TL;DR

This paper examines how incomplete information affects the outcomes of the Deferred Acceptance matching mechanism, revealing that many results from complete information settings are sensitive to even small uncertainties.

Contribution

It demonstrates the fragility of complete-information matching results when faced with minor preference uncertainties in centralized markets.

Findings

Incomplete information significantly alters matching outcomes.

Many properties of the Deferred Acceptance mechanism are fragile under uncertainty.

Small preference uncertainties can lead to different stable matchings.

Abstract

We study the impacts of incomplete information on centralized one-to-one matching markets. We focus on the commonly used Deferred Acceptance mechanism (Gale and Shapley, 1962). We show that many complete-information results are fragile to a small infusion of uncertainty about others' preferences.