Oligarchies in spatial environments

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Mathematical Economics
Year: 2009
Volume: 45
Issue: 3-4
Pages: 250-256

Authors (2)

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

In spatial environments we consider social welfare functions satisfying Arrow's requirements, i.e. weak Pareto and independence of irrelevant alternatives. Individual preferences measure distances between alternatives according to the lp-norm (for a fixed 1<=p<=[infinity]). When the policy space is multi-dimensional and the set of alternatives has a non-empty and connected interior and its boundary has no tails, any quasi-transitive welfare function must be oligarchic. As a corollary we obtain that for transitive welfare functions weak Pareto, independence of irrelevant alternatives, and non-dictatorship are inconsistent if the set of alternatives has a non-empty and connected interior and its boundary has no tails.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:eee:mateco:v:45:y:2009:i:3-4:p:250-256
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25