PROTECTIVE BEHAVIOR IN MATCHING MODELS

This paper analyzes the use of a version of lexical maximum strategies , called protective behavior, in two-sided matching models. It restric ts attention to mechanisms which produce stable matchings, that is, ma tchings which are individually rational and pairwise optimal. The main results of the paper show that truth-telling is the unique form of pr otective behavior in two such mechanisms. The first is the one which s elects the student-optimal stable matching in the college-admissions m odel, while the second is the mechanism which selects the buyer-optima l matching in the Shapley-Shubik assignment model. (C) 1995 Academic P ress, Inc.