Theory of Fair Allocation

Fair allocation asks a deceptively simple question: when a group has to divide something — an estate among creditors, a cake among guests, indivisible goods plus cash, public projects funded jointly — what counts as a fair split, and which rules consistently deliver it? The course works axiomatically: you state properties you want a rule to satisfy (no-envy, equal treatment, consistency, strategy-proofness), then prove which rules are pinned down by which combinations. Expect proof-heavy problem sets, two written midterms, and a final, with bankruptcy problems as the running case study before moving through single-peaked preferences, exchange economies, and public goods. As a graduate microeconomics elective it sits downstream of general equilibrium and social choice, and gives you the formal toolkit behind market design and mechanism design work.