The (sub-)optimality of the majority rule

B-Tier
Journal: Games and Economic Behavior
Year: 2012
Volume: 74
Issue: 2
Pages: 651-665

Authors (2)

Schmitz, Patrick W. (Universität zu Köln) Tröger, Thomas (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

1.005 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

We consider collective choice from two alternatives. Ex-ante, each agent is uncertain about which alternative she prefers, and may be uncertain about the intensity of her preferences. An environment is given by a probability distribution over utility vectors that is symmetric across agents and neutral across alternatives. In many environments, the majority voting rule maximizes agentsʼ ex-ante expected utilities among all anonymous and dominant-strategy implementable choice rules. But in some environments where the agentsʼ utilities are stochastically correlated, other dominant-strategy choice rules are better for all agents. If utilities are stochastically independent across agents, majority voting is ex-ante optimal among all anonymous and incentive-compatible rules. We also compare rules from an interim-viewpoint.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:gamebe:v:74:y:2012:i:2:p:651-665
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-29