Condorcet's paradox is one of the most prominent results in social choice theory. It says that there may not exist any alternative that a net majority prefers over every other alternative. When outcomes need not be deterministic alternatives, we show that a similar paradox still exists even if...

Yang et al.(2007) show that assortative matching mechanisms can induce a high level of cooperation to prevail in repeated prisoners' dilemma experiments, but societies may also head to an all-defection state rapidly. Here, we additionally provide information on income distribution and show that...

This paper will take Taiwan as an example to investigate the closeness-turnout relation. Instead of using actual electoral data, we utilize the information provided by pre-election polls to construct the measure for electoral closeness. The empirical result of Taiwan shows when the race is...

When preferences are defined over two alternatives, the (relative) majority rule is characterized in terms of the four axioms U, P, I, and G. U is unanimity. P is the condition that the union of two unconcerned (that is, indifferent) groups of individuals creates an unconcerned group. I asserts...

Many people vote in large elections with costs to vote although the expected benefits would seem to be infinitesimal to a rational mind. We exhibit two necessary conditions that a theory of rational decision must satisfy in order to solve the paradox. We then show that prospect and regret...

The purpose of this paper is to provide further insights into how the Turkish internal migrants' party choices are influenced by the voting patterns in their places of origin. We consider the impact of several factors including the timing of the departure from the origin and the migrants'...

This note examines the endogenous determination of participation costs in a costly voting game with complete information when there are three voters. I Â…find that there are two types of equilibria: (1) one where a voter who has a minority opinion definitely abstains, and (2) where he or she...

In this note we empirically analyze the link between state capacity and civil conflict via the manufacturing sector, which is the source of wealth for emerging new elite interested in obtaining political representation, and is the outcome of a new political equilibrium more in tune with capital...

Two axioms are shown to characterize the relative majority rule when preferences are defined over two alternatives. According to one axiom, if all the individuals in a group are indifferent, then the associated group preference is indifference. The second axiom states that a group S prefers...

This paper studies the relationship between interest group political influence and allocation of decisionmaking power in a potentially divided government. We consider a simple endogenous policy model in which a legislator is in charge of setting the levels of two different policy instruments - a...