What is "implementability"

The term implementability has two different meanings in different contexts.

1. In mechanism design, implementability is a property of a social choice function. It means that there is an incentive-compatible mechanism that attains ("implements") this function. There are several degrees of implementability, corresponding to the different degrees of incentive-compatibility, e.g:

• A function is dominant-strategy implementable if it is attainable by a mechanism which is dominant-strategy-incentive-compatible (also called strategyproof).
• A function is Bayesian-Nash implementable if it is attainable by a mechanism which is Bayesian-Nash-incentive-compatible.

See for a recent reference. In some textbooks, the entire field of mechanism design is called Implementation theory.

2. In medicine, implementability is a property of clinical practice guidelines. It refers to a set of characteristics that predict ease of (and obstacles to) guideline adaptations by clinicians. See for a recent reference. There is an entire journal called implementation science, which "aims to publish research relevant to the scientific study of methods to promote the uptake of research findings into routine healthcare in clinical, organisational or policy contexts". See also the page implementation.