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Implementation by vote-buying mechanisms

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  • Eguia, Jon

    (Michigan State University, Department of Economics)

  • Xefteris, Dimitrios

    (University of Cyprus)

Abstract

Simple majority voting does not allow preference intensities to be expressed, and hence fails to implement choice rules that take them into account. A vote-buying mechanism, instead, permits preference intensities to be revealed since each agent can buy any quantity of votes x to cast for an alternative of her choosing at a cost c(x) and the outcome is the most voted alternative. In the context of binary decisions, we characterize the class of choice rules implemented by vote-buying mechanisms. Rules in this class can assign any weight to preference intensities and to the number of supporters for each alternative.

Suggested Citation

  • Eguia, Jon & Xefteris, Dimitrios, 2018. "Implementation by vote-buying mechanisms," Working Papers 2018-1, Michigan State University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ris:msuecw:2018_001
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    3. Nikolas Tsakas & Dimitrios Xefteris & Nicholas Ziros, 2021. "Vote Trading in Power-Sharing Systems: A Laboratory Investigation," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(636), pages 1849-1882.
    4. Christian Ewerhart, 2022. "Diagonal payoff security and equilibrium existence in quasi-symmetric discontinuous games," ECON - Working Papers 414, Department of Economics - University of Zurich, revised Aug 2022.
    5. Vitalik Buterin & Zoë Hitzig & E. Glen Weyl, 2019. "A Flexible Design for Funding Public Goods," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(11), pages 5171-5187, November.
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    7. Vragov, Roumen & Smith, Vernon, 2023. "A method for identifying parameterizations of the Compensation election and Quadratic voting that admit pure-strategy equilibria," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 7-16.
    8. Hans Gersbach, 2022. "New Forms of Democracy," CESifo Working Paper Series 10134, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    implementation; mechanism design; vote-buying; social welfare; utilitarianism; quadratic voting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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