Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy

Edward  Glaeser; Andrew  Hillis; Scott Duke Kominers; Michael  Luca

Article | American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings

Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy

by Edward Glaeser, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers and Michael Luca

Abstract

The proliferation of big data makes it possible to better target city services like hygiene inspections, but city governments rarely have the in-house talent needed for developing prediction algorithms. Cities could hire consultants, but a cheaper alternative is to crowdsource competence by making data public and offering a reward for the best algorithm. A simple model suggests that open tournaments dominate consulting contracts when cities can tolerate risk and when there is enough labor with low opportunity costs. We also report on an inexpensive Boston-based restaurant tournament, which yielded algorithms that proved reasonably accurate when tested "out-of-sample" on hygiene inspections.

Keywords: user-generated content; operations; tournaments; policy-making; Machine learning; online platforms; Data and Data Sets; Mathematical Methods; City; Infrastructure; Business Processes; Government and Politics;

Format: Print

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Citation:

Glaeser, Edward, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers, and Michael Luca. "Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy." American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings 106, no. 5 (May 2016): 114–118.

We prove a natural comparative static for many-to-many matching markets in which agents’ choice functions exhibit size-dependent discounts: reducing the extent to which some agent discounts additional partners leads to improved outcomes for the agents on the other side of the market, and worsened outcomes for the agents on the same side of the market. Our argument draws upon recently developed methods bringing tools from choice theory into matching.

Opportunity Insights -- a non-profit that researches drivers of economic opportunity and develops policy solutions to help families achieve better life outcomes -- seeks to expand its impact.

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Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy

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