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Social Choice in Large Populations with Single-Peaked Preferences

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  • Martin F. Hellwig

    (Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods)

Abstract

Anonymous social choice function for a large atomless population maps cross-section distributions of preferences into outcomes. Because any one individual is too insignificant to a¤ect these distributions, every anonymous social choice function is individually strategy-proof. However, not every anonymous social choice function is group strategy-proof. If the set of outcomes is linearly ordered and participants have single-peaked preferences, an anonymous social choice function is group strategy-proof if and only if it can be implemented by a mechanism involving binary votes between neighbouring outcomes with nondecreasing thresholds for "moving higher up". Such a mechanism can be interpreted as a version of Moulin's (1980) generalized median-voter mechanism for a large population.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin F. Hellwig, 2021. "Social Choice in Large Populations with Single-Peaked Preferences," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2021_18, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    • Handle: RePEc:mpg:wpaper:2021_18
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    References listed on IDEAS

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