When and How to Live: Resolving Non-Contractible Uncertainty Efficiently

Majority rule resolves noncontractible uncertainty efficiently for issues where all players' stakes are expected to be about the same; dictatorship is efficient when one player's stake is much higher than any other players'. In general, weighted voting schemes where weights depend positively on expected stake and negatively on expected benefits are efficient when players' benefit are independant; the quota required is larger the lower are expected social benefits. Correlation modifies these results; minorities, for instance, have votes that count more under some circumstances. I apply this method to representative governement and municipal governance.