Abstract(s)
We study markets with indivisible goods where monetary compensations are fixed (or are
not possible). Each individual is endowed with an object and a preference relation over all objects. Respect for improvement means that when the ranking of an agent’s endowment improves
in some other agent’s preference (while keeping other preferences unchanged), then this agent
weakly benefits from it. As a main result we show that on the strict domain individual rationality, strategy-proofness, and non-bossiness imply respecting improvement. As a consequence
we obtain that top trading with fixed-tie breaking and random tie-breaking, respectively, satisfy
respecting improvement on the weak domain. We further show that trading cycles rules with
fixed tie-breaking satisfy respecting improvement. Finally, we put our results in the contexts of
generalized matching problems, roommate problems and school choice.