Theory shows that voting is subject to paradoxes, while it also appears that a voting result is as much caused by the used procedure as by the voters’ preferences. From a moral point of view, the choice of the procedure naturally is the major issue. A key insight is that morality presumes time. In a static world everything is given, and there is no place for individuals who have to ponder their moral choices. The real world is dynamic however, and the most challenging voting paradoxes concern budget changes. The paper develops a new "Borda Fixed Point" mechanism that provides a better protection to surprises by such budget changes. The analysis is put into context with a review of the proper meaning of Kenneth Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem and a review of Donald Saari’s argument on symmetry. (This version has a formal appendix.)
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
Did you know? Each page is provided with a technical contact, in case something is not right with the supplied information. See under "publisher info".