Review of the theory of stable matchings and contract systems

A review of works devoted to the theory of stable matchings or, more generally, of stable networks of contracts is given. A set (network) of contracts is called stable if no coalition has an available contract that gives all coalition members strictly more than the proposed set. In a special case, this concept was introduced in 1962 by Gale and Shapley and has since gone a long way in its development both theoretically (theorems, structures, and algorithms) and in the field of applications in economics, physics, biology, and mathematics.