On the performance of voting systems in spatial voting simulations

We study the performance of voting systems in terms of minimizing the overall social disutility of making a collective choice in an univariate voting space with ideological voting and perfect information. In order to obtain a distribution of the performance indicator for each of the 12 systems chosen for this study—Baldwin’s Method, Black’s Method, The Borda Count, Bucklin’s Grand Junction System, Coombs’ Method, Dodgson’s System, Instant Run-Off Voting, Plurality, Simpson’s MinMax, Tideman’s Ranked Pairs, Schulze’s Beatpath Method, and Two-Round Majority—we simulate elections using an Agent-Based Computational approach under several different distributions for voters and candidates positioning, with up to 15 available candidates. At each iteration, voters generate complete and strict ordinal utility functions over the set of available candidates, based on which each voting system computes a winner. We define the performance of a system in terms of its capability of choosing among the available candidates the one that minimizes aggregate voter disutility. As expected, the results show an overall dominance of Condorcet completion methods over the traditional and more widely used voting systems, regardless of the distributions of voter and candidate positions.     

On the fundamental thought behind voting rules

The theme is Arrow's requirement in his theorem of 1951 on methods for group choice, that the choice be independent of irrelevant alternatives. The attention is drawn to (1) his own explanation of this requirement in 1972, which is a quite different understanding than has been discussed in the voluminous literature on the theorem, (2) that Arrow, in fact, in 1985 showed an understanding for how irrelevant alternatives might in a meaningful way influence the group choice, (3) that admittedly the border-line between irrelevant and relevant alternatives in Arrow's original statement is arbitrary, and (4) that Arrow, if he had observed the final thought in the origin of the group theory by Borda, which he admittedly did not, might have realized that Borda's method stringently estimates the relevance of each alternative for the result.The author expresses his surprise that a theoretical conclusion based on an arbitrary fundament has been admired so long.     

On the choice between two delta-hedging strategies

This paper studies the choice between two popular hedging strategies by assuming that the hedge position (delta) follows a Markov chain with boundary conditions. We give the formula for long-run cost per unit time under two different cost structures: (I) a fixed transaction cost and (II) a non-fixed transaction cost. Then, we consider the case where the hedge position follows a random walk; we show that (i) re-balancing delta to the initial position is always more cost-efficient than re-balancing it to the edge for a fixed transaction cost; (ii) under certain conditions, re-balancing delta to the initial position is less cost-efficient than re-balancing it to the edge for a non-fixed transaction cost. In addition, we quantify the magnitude of the efficiency in both cases.     

On probability models in voting theory

This paper illustrates the use of probability models to study properties of voting rules. In particular, a simple occupancy distribution and its limiting Dlrichlet form are introduced, corresponding to simplifying assumptions about voters' preferences. We use as illustrations the occurrence probability of the Condorcet Paradox, a vintage problem in social choice theory, along with the related concept of Condorcet efficiency, a measure of goodness for voting rules. Further examples include properties of a lottery rule and the vulnerability of certain voting rules to strategic manipulation. Prospects for future work are indicated.     

On irrelevant and infeasible alternatives

In a letter to the author Arrow makes an important recognition regarding the question of irrelevant alternatives by expressing his view that alternatives which are not among the superior ones can, in fact, affect the choice of the best alternative (it is a question of choosing the best chess player).It is clarified how alternatives become relevant in group decisions by Borda's method.     

On testing exponentiality against IFRA alternatives

Summary We present a class of tests for exponentiality against IFRA alternatives. The class of tests of Deshpande (1983) is a subclass of ours. We also treat the same problem when the data is randomly censored from the right. The results of an asymptotic relative efficiency comparison indicate the superiority of our tests. This research was supported by an NSERC Canada operating grant at the University of Alberta.     

Social structure and voting choice: hypotheses,findings, and interpretations

Quality & Quantity - To explain voting patterns in recent Presidential elections in the United States, I analyze data from the 1984 National Election Survey, and apply core hypotheses from an...     

Implementation of voting operators

We show that a theory of implementation can be developed in the Aizerman–Aleskerov framework, capturing the main ideas regarding Nash implementation in the Arrovian case. In fact we obtain the counterparts of the results of [Maskin, E., 1977. Nash Equilibrium and Welfare Optimality. MIT, Mimeo] and [Moore, J., Repullo, R., 1990. Nash implementation. A full characterization. Econometrica 58, 1038–1100] in the new framework.     

Professionals in two employment systems

This article reports the results of a cross national study of how professional employees experience two very different employment systems: the ‘individualist’ of America and the ‘collectivist’ one of Poland. The authors conclude that further research and development of the concept of employment systems should focus on the degree of congruence between employment policies and cultural attitudes of employees.     

On the structure of the equilibrium manifold

An elementary proof is given of Y. Balasko's theorem that the equilibrium manifold is diffeomorphic to R^lm. Our proof includes the case (l,m)=(2,2), which the original proof does not cover.     

On the dynamics of national scientific systems

Coauthorship links actors at the micro-level of scientists. Through electronic databases we now have enough information to compare entire research disciplines over time. We compare the complete longitudinal coauthorship networks for four research disciplines (biotechnology, mathematics, physics and sociology) for 1986–2005. We examined complete bibliographies of all researchers registered at the national Slovene Research Agency. Known hypotheses were confirmed as were three new hypotheses. There were different coauthoring cultures. However, these cultures changed over time in Slovenia. The number of coauthored publications grew much faster than solo authored productions, especially after independence in 1991 and the integration of Slovenian science into broader EU systems. Trajectories of types of coauthorship differed across the disciplines. Using blockmodeling, we show how coauthorship structures change in all disciplines. The most frequent form was a core-periphery structure with multiple simple cores, a periphery and a semi-periphery. The next most frequent form had this structure but with bridging cores. Bridging cores consolidate the center of a discipline by giving it greater coherence. These consolidated structures appeared at different times in different disciplines, appearing earliest in physics and latest in biotechnology. In 2005, biotechnology had the most consolidated center followed by physics and sociology. All coauthorship networks expanded over time. By far, new recruits went into either the semi-periphery or the periphery in all fields. Two ‘lab’ fields, biotechnology and physics, have larger semi-peripheries than peripheries. The reverse holds for mathematics and sociology, two ‘office’ disciplines. Institutional affiliations and shared interests all impact the structure of collaboration in subtle ways.     

Harmonic alternatives to the Almon polynomial technique

The Almon technique for estimating distributed lag coefficients uses polynomial approximations to the true but unknown distributed lag function. The technique is used primarily to increase the efficiency of the estimators over OLS estimators. This paper proposes the use of harmonic approximations which is at least as reasonable a priori as approximations by polynomials. This method can be used as an alternative to the Almon method in certain cases and as a convenient check against misspecification problems.     

Maximin choice of voting rules for committees

In the context of a probabilistic voting model with dichotomous choice, we investigate the consequences of choosing among voting rules according to the maximin criterion. A voting rule is the minimum number of voters who vote favorably on a change from the status quo required for it to be adopted. We characterize the voting rules that satisfy the maximin criterion as a function of the distribution of voters’ probabilities to favor change from the status quo. We prove that there are at most two maximin voting rules, at least one is Pareto efficient and is often different to the simple majority rule. If a committee is formed only by “conservative voters” (i.e. voters who are more likely to prefer the status quo to change) then the maximin criterion recommends voting rules that require no more voters supporting change than the simple majority rule. If there are only “radical voters”, then this criterion recommends voting rules that require no less than half of the total number of votes.Received: June 2003, Accepted: September 2004, JEL Classification: D71Salvador Barberá, Carmen Beviá, Mirko Cardinale, Wioletta Dziuda, Joan Esteban, Mahmut Erdem, Bernard Grofman, Matthew Jackson, Kai Konrad, Raul Lopez, Jordi Massó, Hugh Mullan, Shmuel Nitzan, Ana Pires do Prado, Elisabeth Schulte, Arnold Urken and two anonymous referees provided helpful comments. Finally, I also acknowledge financial support from Capes, Brazilian Ministry of Education and Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (Project BEC2002-02130).