Non-standard Choice in Matching Markets

We explore the possibility of designing matching mechanisms that can accommodatenon-standard choice behavior. We pin down the necessary and sufficient conditionson participants’ choice behavior for the existence of stable and incentive compatiblemechanisms. Our results imply that well-functioning matching markets can be designedto adequately accommodate a plethora of choice behaviors, including the standardbehavior that is consistent with preference maximization. To illustrate the significanceof our results in practice, we show that a simple modification in a commonly usedmatching mechanism enables it to accommodate non-standard choice behavior