Gaining power through enlargement: Strategic foundations and experimental evidence

B-Tier
Journal: Games and Economic Behavior
Year: 2010
Volume: 69
Issue: 2
Pages: 274-292

Score contribution per author:

0.670 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

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

Abstract

Power indices suggest that adding new members to a voting body may affect the balance of power between the original members even if their number of votes and the decision rule remain constant. Some of the original members may actually gain even if voters are bargaining over a fixed budget. We show that this phenomenon can occur as an equilibrium of a non-cooperative bargaining game based on the Baron and Ferejohn (1989) model of legislative bargaining. We implement this game in the laboratory and find that power can be gained by adding new members as the theory predicts.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:gamebe:v:69:y:2010:i:2:p:274-292
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25