Balancing democracy: majoritarianism versus expression of preference intensity

Asaf D.M. Nitzan, Shmuel I. Nitzan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

This paper evaluates three prominent voting systems: the Majority Rule (MR), Borda Rule (BR), and Plurality Rule (PR). Our analysis centers on the susceptibilities of each system to potential transgressions of two foundational principles: the respect for majority preference (majoritarianism) and the acknowledgment of the intensity of individual preferences. We operationalize the concept of 'cost' as the expected deviation from the aforementioned principles. A comparative assessment of MR, BR, and PR is undertaken in terms of their costs. Our findings underscore the superiority of PR over MR, whilst also highlighting the comparative advantage of MR against BR.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)149-171
Number of pages23
JournalPublic Choice
Volume200
Issue number1-2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2024.

Keywords

  • Borda rule
  • Expected erosion of a principle
  • Majority principle
  • Majority rule
  • Plurality rule
  • Preference intensity
  • Scoring rules

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