Endowments, Exclusion, and Exchange

We propose a new cooperative solution for discrete exchange economies and resource allocation problems, the exclusion core. The exclusion core is neither weaker nor stronger than the (strong) core and it rests upon a foundational idea in the legal understanding of property, the right to exclude others. By reinterpreting endowments as a distribution of exclusion rights, we can extend our analysis to economies with qualified property rights and social hierarchies. The exclusion core characterizes a generalized top trading cycle algorithm in a large class of economies, including those featuring private and public ownership.