On the Democratic Weights of Nations

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2017
Volume: 125
Issue: 5
Pages: 1599 - 1634

Authors (3)

Sascha Kurz (not in RePEc) Nicola Maaser (not in RePEc) Stefan Napel (Universität Bayreuth)

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Which voting weights ought to be allocated to single delegates of differently sized groups from a democratic fairness perspective? We operationalize the one person, one vote principle by demanding every individual’s influence on collective decisions to be equal a priori. The analysis differs from previous ones by considering intervals of alternatives. New reasons lead to an old conclusion: weights should be proportional to the square root of constituency sizes if voter preferences are independent and identically distributed. This finding is fragile, however, in that preference polarization along constituency lines quickly calls for plain proportionality.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/693039
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-26