Collective Choice as Information Theory: Towards a Theory of Gravitas

Wilmers, George (2010) Collective Choice as Information Theory: Towards a Theory of Gravitas. [MIMS Preprint]

[thumbnail of george_2.pdf] PDF
george_2.pdf

Download (215kB)

Abstract

The present paper introduces a new approach to the the theory of voting in the context of binary collective choice, which seeks to define a dynamic optimal voting rule by using insights derived from the mathematical theory of information. In order to de¯ne such a voting rule, a method of defining a real-valued measure of the weight of independent opinion of an arbitrary set of voters is suggested, which is value free to the extent that it depends only on probabilistic information extracted from previous patterns of voting, but does not require for its definition any direct information concerning either the correctness or incorrectness of previous voting decisions, or the content of those decisions. The approach to the definition of such a measure, which the author calls gravitas, is axiomatic. The voting rule is then defined by comparing the gravitas of the set of those voters who vote for a given motion with the gravitas of the set of those who vote against that motion.

Item Type: MIMS Preprint
Subjects: MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 03 Mathematical logic and foundations
MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 91 Game theory, economics, social and behavioral sciences
Depositing User: Ms Lucy van Russelt
Date Deposited: 18 Jan 2010
Last Modified: 08 Nov 2017 18:18
URI: https://eprints.maths.manchester.ac.uk/id/eprint/1396

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item