A possibility theorem on aggregation over multiple interconnected propositions

List, Christian ORCID: 0000-0003-1627-800X (2003) A possibility theorem on aggregation over multiple interconnected propositions. Mathematical Social Sciences, 45 (1). pp. 1-13. ISSN 0165-4896

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Abstract

Drawing on the so-called “doctrinal paradox”, List and Pettit (2002a) have shown that, given an unrestricted domain condition, there exists no procedure for aggregating individual sets of judgments over multiple interconnected propositions into corresponding collective ones, where the procedure satisfies some minimal conditions similar to the conditions of Arrow’s theorem. I prove that we can avoid the paradox and the associated impossibility result by introducing an appropriate domain restriction: a structure condition, called unidimensional alignment, is shown to open up a possibility result, similar in spirit to Black’s median voter theorem (1948). Specifically, I prove that, given unidimensional alignment, propositionwise majority voting is the unique procedure for aggregating individual sets of judgments into collective ones in accordance with the above mentioned minimal conditions.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	http://www.elsevier.com/locate/mss
Additional Information:	Published 2003 © Elsevier BV, North-Holland. LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (<http://eprints.lse.ac.uk>) of the LSE Research Online website.
Divisions:	Government Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
Date Deposited:	31 Mar 2006
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 22:42
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/702

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