Abstract
The Condorcet Jury Theorem (CJT), which provides a justification for democracy, is based on voters who are imperfectly informed insofar as they know the correct policy with a probability of less than one but greater than one-half. We reassess the consequences of the CJT for democracy when extension of the franchise adds equal numbers of non-distinguishable informed and uninformed voters to the collective decision making group. Uninformed voters vote correctly with probability one-half. We show that adding equal numbers of informed and uninformed voters maintains the CJT conclusion that enlarging the group of decision makers increases the likelihood of a correct collective decision.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 435-443 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Public Choice |
Volume | 148 |
Issue number | 3-4 |
Early online date | 9 Jun 2010 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2011 |
Keywords
- Condorcet jury theorem
- Expressive voting
- Franchise
- Rational ignorance