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A Graphical Analysis of Some Basic Results in Social Choice

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Abstract

We use a simple graphical approach to represent Social Welfare Functions that satisfy Independence of Irrelevant Alternatives and Anonymity. This approach allows us to provide simple and illustrative proofs of May's Theorem, of variants of classic impossibility results, and of a recent result on the robustness of Majority Rule due to Maskin (1995). In each case, geometry provides new insights on the working and interplay of the axioms, and suggests new results including a new characterization of the entire class of Majority Rule SWFs, a strengthening of May's Theorem, and a new version of Maskin's Theorem.

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  • Estelle Cantillon, 2001. "A Graphical Analysis of Some Basic Results in Social Choice," NBER Technical Working Papers 0268, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberte:0268
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    1. Charles BLACKORBY & David DONALDSON & John A. WEYMARK, 1990. "A Welfarist Proof of Arrow's Theorem," Discussion Papers (REL - Recherches Economiques de Louvain) 1990031, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    2. Saari, Donald G., 1991. "Calculus and extensions of Arrow's theorem," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 271-306.
    3. Balasko, Yves & Cres, Herve, 1997. "The Probability of Condorcet Cycles and Super Majority Rules," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 237-270, August.
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    6. Wilson, Robert, 1972. "Social choice theory without the Pareto Principle," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(3), pages 478-486, December.
    7. Partha Dasgupta & Eric Maskin, 2008. "On The Robustness of Majority Rule," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 6(5), pages 949-973, September.
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    2. Segal-Halevi, Erel & Nitzan, Shmuel & Hassidim, Avinatan & Aumann, Yonatan, 2017. "Fair and square: Cake-cutting in two dimensions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-28.
    3. Obregon, Carlos, 2023. "Social Choice and Institutionalism," MPRA Paper 122458, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Matías Núñez & Giacomo Valletta, 2015. "The informational basis of scoring rules," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 19(4), pages 279-297, December.
    5. Yariv, Leeat & Bartholdi, Laurent & Hann-Caruthers, Wade & Josyula, Maya & Tamuz, Omer, 2018. "Equitable Voting Rules," CEPR Discussion Papers 13316, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
      • Laurent Bartholdi & Wade Hann-Caruthers & Maya Josyula & Omer Tamuz & Leeat Yariv, 2018. "Equitable voting rules," Papers 1811.01227, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2020.
    6. Martinet, Vincent, 2011. "A characterization of sustainability with indicators," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 183-197, March.
    7. Laurent Bartholdi & Wade Hann‐Caruthers & Maya Josyula & Omer Tamuz & Leeat Yariv, 2021. "Equitable Voting Rules," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 89(2), pages 563-589, March.
    8. F. McMorris & R. Powers, 2008. "The majority decision function for trees with 3 leaves," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 169-175, October.
    9. McMorris, F.R. & Powers, R.C., 2013. "Majority decision on median semilattices," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 48-51.
    10. Nuñez, M. & Valletta, G., 2012. "The information simplicity of scoring rules," Research Memorandum 011, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H0 - Public Economics - - General
    • D7 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making

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