Sequential Search Beats a Two-Parameter Search

Abstract

A search strategy is introduced that combines features of both the sequential and best-of-N search strategies. This hybrid search strategy has two parameters, an acceptance threshold T and a maximum search length N. It is shown that the optimized sequential search strategy nonetheless dominates the hybrid strategy for all values of T and N and for all underlying distributions, assuming a fixed cost per prospect.

Keywords:

• Fixed-length search
• Reservation wage
• Sequential search

Subject Classifications:

• 60G40
• 91B44
• 92B99

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author is grateful to Professor Steve Seubert for his helpful remarks on an earlier draft of this article and to the Editor and an Associate Editor for their efforts in the review process.

Notes

Recommended by Nitis Mukhopadhyay