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Two-tier voting: Measuring inequality and specifying the inverse power problem

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  • Weber, Matthias

Abstract

There are many situations in which different groups make collective decisions by committee voting, with each group represented by a single person. This paper is about two closely related problems. The first is that of how to measure the inequality of a voting system in such a setting. The second is the inverse power problem: the problem of finding voting systems that approximate equal indirect voting power as well as possible. I argue that the coefficient of variation is appropriate to measure the inequality of a voting system and to specify the inverse problem. I then show how specifying the inverse problem with the coefficient of variation compares to using existing objective functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Weber, Matthias, 2016. "Two-tier voting: Measuring inequality and specifying the inverse power problem," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 40-45.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:79:y:2016:i:c:p:40-45
    DOI: 10.1016/j.mathsocsci.2015.10.008
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Bhattacherjee, Sanjay & Sarkar, Palash, 2017. "Correlation and inequality in weighted majority voting games," MPRA Paper 83168, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Weber, Matthias, 2022. "From Individual Human Decisions to Economic and Financial Policies," SocArXiv 5ju7z, Center for Open Science.
    3. N. Maaser, 2017. "Simple vs. Sophisticated Rules for the Allocation of Voting Weights," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 34(1), pages 67-78, April.
    4. Bhattacherjee, Sanjay & Chakravarty, Satya R. & Sarkar, Palash, 2022. "A General Model for Multi-Parameter Weighted Voting Games," MPRA Paper 115407, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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