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Bargaining in Committees of Representatives

Author

Listed:
  • Annick Laruelle

    (UFR Sciences Economiques et Gestion, Université de Caen, Esplanade de la Paix, F-14032 Caen Cedex, France, annick.laruelle@ anicaen.fr)

  • Federico Valenciano

    (Departamento de Economia Aplicada IV, Unversidad del Pais Vasco, Avenida Lehendakari Aguirre, 83, E-48015 Bibao, Spain, federico.valenciano@ehu.es)

Abstract

Committees are often made up of representatives, each of them acting on behalf of a group of individuals or constituency of different size, who make decisions by means of a voting rule which specifies what vote configurations in the committee can pass a decision. This raises the question of the choice of an `adequate' (in a sense to be specified) voting rule, given the different sizes of the groups that members represent. In this article we take a new departure to address this problem, assuming that the committee is a bargaining scenario in which negotiations take place `in the shadow of the voting rule' in search of consensus. That is, a general agreement is sought, but any winning coalition can enforce an agreement. In this context, the notion of a `neutral' voting rule, based on the compromise between equitableness and efficiency (or egalitarianism and utilitarianism) represented by the Nash bargaining solution, is founded, yielding a recommendation that differs from previous ones.

Suggested Citation

  • Annick Laruelle & Federico Valenciano, 2008. "Bargaining in Committees of Representatives," Journal of Theoretical Politics, , vol. 20(1), pages 93-106, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jothpo:v:20:y:2008:i:1:p:93-106
    DOI: 10.1177/0951629807084041
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Maaser, Nicola & Napel, Stefan, 2012. "A note on the direct democracy deficit in two-tier voting," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 174-180.
    2. Laruelle, Annick & Valenciano, Federico, 2008. "Noncooperative foundations of bargaining power in committees and the Shapley-Shubik index," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 341-353, May.

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