Haydar Evren - Research

My research interests are primarily in the microeconomics field. More specifically, my principal research focuses on market design, which studies how economic outcomes are affected by the rules and operations regulating the marketplace. My research is both theoretical and applied. To provide practical solutions to real-life resource allocation problems, I use tools and techniques from economic theory, experimental economics, and computational economics. In line with this, I study topics involving affirmative action and diversity schemes, immigration lottery allocation, and practical applications of matching with contracts.

Publications:

Rosters and Connected Apportionments (with Manshu Khanna)

Public Choice, 202(1): 167-191, January 2025

Abstract: Affirmative action in India reserves explicit proportions of seats and jobs in publicly funded institutions for various beneficiary groups. Because seats are indivisible and arise in small numbers over time, implementation of this policy requires that beneficiary groups take turns claiming seats, for which purpose India relies on a device called a roster. We study the problem of constructing a roster, which involves addressing a series of connected apportionment problems. To identify suitable apportionment methods, six essential requirements direct our search to a large class of divisor methods. We show that the Webster–Sainte-Laguë method is the unique divisor method that satisfies several practical properties and fairness criteria. Comparative analysis between an existing Indian roster and the application of the Webster–Sainte-Laguë method highlights that method’s benefits.

Working Papers:

Affirmative Action's Cumulative Fractional Assignments (with Manshu Khanna) -- JMP

Abstract: The Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Teachers' Cadre) Act, 2019 provides for reserving teaching vacancies in India's central educational institutions for beneficiaries of its affirmative action policy. Reservation of teaching vacancies had been a contentious issue, and the act was introduced to resolve it after the Supreme Court's solution was met with protests from the Teachers' Union. Our paper demonstrates an impossibility result in the Supreme Court's solution and the act, which are flawed in reserving seats simultaneously at both the university and within its departments. To overcome this impossibility, we propose an alternative solution based on approximate implementation of fractional assignments, offering a promising middle-ground between the two disputed solutions practiced in India. This novel application demonstrates the practical relevance of the approximate implementation approach (Akbarpourand Nikzad(2020)) beyond the constraint structures examined in the literature.