A social welfare function for a denumerable society satisfies Pairwise Computability if for each pair (x,y) of alternatives, there exists an algorithm that can decide from any description of each profile on {x,y} whether the society prefers x to y. I prove that if a social welfare function satisfying Unanimity and Independence also satisfies Pairwise Computability, then it is dictatorial. This result severely limits on practical grounds Fishburn's resolution (1970) of Arrow's impossibility. I also give an interpretation of a denumerable "society."
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Article provided by Springer in its journal Economic Theory.
Find related papers by JEL classification: D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations C69 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods and Programming - - - Other D89 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Other
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Andrei Gomberg & Cesar Martinelli & Ricard Torres, 2002.
"Anonymity in Large Societies,"
Working Papers
0211, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM.
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