The Theory of Committees and Elections

THIS book or some related work has occupied me spasmodically over rather a long period, in fact ever since I listened to the class lectures of Professor A. K. White on the possibility of forming a pure science of Politics. Mter an earlier version of Part

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The Theory of Committees and Elections by

Duncan Black, M.A., Ph.D. Emeritus Professor of Economics University College of North Wales

...

K1uwer Academic Publishers

Boston/Dordecht/Lancaster

Distributors for North America: Kluwer Academic Publishers 101 Philip Drive Assinippi Park Norwell, MA 02061, USA Distributors for the UK and Ireland: Kluwer Academic Publishers MTP Press Limited Falcon House, Queen Square Lancaster LAI IRN, UNITED KINGDOM Distributors for all other countries: Kluwer Academic Publishers Group Distribution Centre Post Office Box 322 3300 AH Dordrecht THE NETHERLANDS

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Black, Duncan. The theory of committees and elections. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Voting. 2. Social choice. I. Title. JF100I.B49 1986 328'.2 86-22452 ISBN-I 3:978-94-0 10-8375-1 DOl: 10.1 007/978-94-009-4225-7

elSBN-13:978-94-009-4225-7

Copyright © 1987 by Kluwer Academic Publishers First published in 1958 by Cambridge University Press. Reprinted in 1963, 1968 and 1971. This reprinting made by arrangement with the author. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 101 Philip Drive, Assinippi Park, Norwell, Massachusetts 02061.

IN MEMORIAM M.B.

CONTENTS

page xi

Preface Acknowledgements

xiii

PART I THE THEORY OF COMMITTEES AND ELECTIONS I. A Committee and Motions II. Independent Valuation

1 4

III. Can a Motion be Represented by the same Symbol on Different Schedules 1

11

IV. A Committee using a Simple Majority: Singlepeaked Preference Curves

14

V. A Committee using a Simple Majority: other Shapes of Preference Curves

25

1. Curves either single-peaked or single-peaked with a plateau on top

2. Other classes of curves

VI. A Committee using a Simple Majority: any Shapes of Preference Curves, Number of Motions Finite VII. Cyclical Majorities VIII. When the Ordinary Committee Procedure is in use the Members' Scales of Valuation may be Incomplete IX. Which Candidate O'U{/ht to be Elected 1 X. Examination of some Methods of Election in Single-member Constituencies XI. Proportional Representation

35 46

51 55 66 75 [ vii ]

XII. The Decisions of a Committee using a Special Majority page 84 1. When the members' preference curves are single-

peaked 2. When the members' preference curves are subject to no restriction

XIII. The Elasticity of Committee Decisions with an Altering Size of Majority

99

1. When the members' preference curves are single-

peaked 2. When the members' preference curves are subject to no restriction

XIV. The Elasticity of Committee Decisions with alterations in the Members' Preference Schedules

109

1. When the members' preference curves are singlepeaked

2. When the members' preference curves are subject to no restriction

XV. The Converse Problem: the Group of Schedules to Correspond to a Given Votin