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On the Possibility of Democracy and Rational Collective Choice

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Author Info
Hillinger, Claude

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Abstract

The paper challenges the 'orthodox doctrine' of collective choice theory according to which Arrow’s 'general possibility theorem' precludes rational decision procedures generally and implies that in particular all voting procedures must be flawed. I point out that all voting procedures are cardinal and that Arrow’s result, based on preference orderings cannot apply to them. All voting procedures that have been proposed, with the exception of approval voting, involve restrictions on voters expressions of their preferences. These restrictions, not any general impossibility, are the cause of various well known pathologies. In the class of unrestricted voting procedures I favor 'evaluative voting' under which a voter can vote for or against any alternative, or abstain. I give a historical/conceptual analysis of the origins of theorists’ aversion to cardinal analysis in collective choice and voting theories.

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File URL: http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/429/1/DEMOCRACY.pdf
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Paper provided by University of Munich, Department of Economics in its series Discussion Papers in Economics with number 429.

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Date of creation: Oct 2004
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Handle: RePEc:lmu:muenec:429

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Related research
Keywords: Arrow's paradox approval voting cardinal collective choice instant runoff voting voting paradoxes

Find related papers by JEL classification:
D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Models of Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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References listed on IDEAS
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  1. Claude Hillinger, 2001. "Money Metric, Consumer Surplus and Welfare Measurement," German Economic Review, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 2(2), pages 177-193, 05. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Levin, Jonathan & Nalebuff, Barry, 1995. "An Introduction to Vote-Counting Schemes," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 9(1), pages 3-26, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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This page was last updated on 2008-7-17.


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