Welcome to Francis Academic Press

Academic Journal of Business & Management, 2021, 3(10); doi: 10.25236/AJBM.2021.031001.

Middle School Admission in China–A Special Case of Boston Mechanism

Author(s)

Zhong Long

Corresponding Author:
Zhong Long
Affiliation(s)

Department of Economics, HKUST, Hong Kong, China

Abstract

In this paper we study a widely-used mechanism in China to match finite number of primary school graduates to middle schools. The main question is what the equilibrium looks like when the number of schools are small. I solve the equilibrium by first eliminate weakly dominated strategies, then compute the incentive compatibility for each type of students. The equilibrium might or might not be unique, which depends on several variables such as the quota of each schools, the distribution of students’ preference and students’ valuation of each school available. 

Keywords

Admission to China; Boston mechanism: equilibrium; Weak domination strategy; Incentive compatibility

Cite This Paper

Zhong Long. Middle School Admission in China–A Special Case of Boston Mechanism. Academic Journal of Business & Management (2021) Vol. 3, Issue 10: 1-10. https://doi.org/10.25236/AJBM.2021.031001.

References

[1] D.Gale and L.S.Shapley. 1962. “College Admissions and the Stability of Marriage". The American Mathematical Monthly. 69 (1) : 9-15 

[2] Y.Chen and O.Kesten. 2017. “Chinese College Admissions and School Choice Reforms: A Theoretical Analysis". Journal of Political Economy. 125 (1). 

[3] A.Abdulkadiroglu and T.Sonmez. 2003. “School Choice: A Mechanism Design Approach". The American Economic Review. 93 (3) : 729-747. 

[4] A.Abdulkadiroglu, Y.K.Che and Y.Yasuda. 2011. “Resolving Conflicting Preferences in School Choice: The “Boston Mechanism” Reconsidered". American Economic Review. 101 : 1-14. 

[5] F.Kojima and M.U.Unver. 2011. “The “Boston" School-Choice Mechanism". Boston College, https://fmwww.bc.edu/ec-p/wp729.pdf 

[6] J.W.Lien, J.Zheng and X.H.Zhong. 2017. “Ex-ante Fairness in the Boston and Serial Dictatorship Mechanisms under Pre-exam and Post-exam Preference Submission". Games and Economic Behavior. 101 : 98-120 

[7] A.Abdulakadiroglu, P.A.Pathak and A.E.Roth. 2009. “Strategy-proofness versus Efficiency in Matching with Indifferences: Redesigning the NYC High School Match". American Economic Review 99(5) : 1954-1978