mechanism design

economists/game theorists are so sexist!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stable_marriage_problem

But to be fair, no one is really suggesting everyone should get married that way, any more so than male ends of computer cables are superior because they have pointy ends. they are simply representative names for agents, even though, notice that 'male' is assigned to the initiator and the algorithm that ultimately disfavours women (they get the lowest ranked feasible guy on their list). it's stable, but the woman certainly doesn't get her best man!

a variation is currently used as the mechanism design to assign medical students internships.