We present an analysis of the distribution of voting power in the Reichstag of the Weimar Republic based on the outcome of the nine general elections in the period 1919-1933. The paper contains a brief description of the political and electoral system of the Weimar Republic and a...

Modern economics is considered a theory of choice. This presupposes that the objectives (preferences on the alternatives) are given, well ordered, and finite. Desires do not always satisfy these requirements and therefore cannot be handled in this framework without some “editing.” In this...

In this paper, Sen’s Liberal Paradox is used to discuss differences between desires and preferences and the relationship between these two concepts. Desires and preferences can mix in real life and in theorizing. In fact, it seems that the mixing of desires and preferences can explain many of...

This papers discusses the relationship of the model of man presented by Adam Smith in The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759) and the assumptions about human behavior which are quintessential for his An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776/77). It is argued that...

This paper analyzes mediation as a signal. Starting from a stylized case, a game theoretical model of one-sided incomplete information, taken from Cho and Kreps (1987), is applied to discuss strategic effects of mediation. It turns out that to reject mediation can be interpreted as a "negative...

Framing effects and bounded rationality imply that election campaigns may be an important determinant of election outcomes. This paper uses a two-party setting and simple game theoretic models to analyse the strategic interaction between the parties' campaign decisions. Alternations of power...

This paper applies for the first time power index analysis to the famous Krackhardt’s kite social network by imposing a weighted voting game on the given network structure. It compares the results of this analysis, derived by applying the Public Good Index and the Public Value, with the...

The developments over a thirty-year time span in the study of power, especially voting power, are traced in this book, which provides an up-to-date overview of applications of n-person game theory to the study of power in multimember bodies. Other theories that shed light on power distribution...