We investigate the applicability of voting power indices, in particular the Penrose index (aka absolute Banzhaf index), in the analysis of voting blocs by means of a hypothetical voting body. We use the power of individual bloc members to study the implications of the formation of blocs and how...

A large number of empirical studies have examined the question of the divorce between ownership and control as to either its extent (following Berle and Means (1932) or its implications for behaviour (following Marris (1964)). These studies have used different samples, different variables and...

This paper reports an analysis of the relationships between shareholding and voting power distributions in a sample of British companies. It applies two standard approaches to the measurement of power in simple games: the Shapley-Shubik and the Banzhaf power indices. The results indicate that...

There is no consensus on the properties of voting power indices when there is a large number of voters in a weighted-voting body. On the one hand, in some real-world cases that have been studied the power indices have been found to be nearly proportional to the weights (e.g., the EUCM, US...

Voting power indices enable the analysis of the distribution of power in a legislature or voting body in which different members have different numbers of votes. Although this approach to the measurement of power has been known for a long time, its application to large games has been limited by...