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L S Penrose's limit theorem: Tests by simulation

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  • Chang, Pao-Li
  • Chua, Vincent C.H.
  • Machover, Moshe

Abstract

LS Penrose’s limit theorem (PLT) – which is implicit in Penrose [5, p. 72] and for which he gave no rigorous proof – says that, in simple weighted voting games, if the number of voters increases indefinitely while existing voters retain their weights and the relative quota is pegged, then – under certain conditions – the ratio between the voting powers of any two voters converges to the ratio between their weights. Lindner and Machover [3] prove some special cases of PLT; and conjecture that the theorem holds, under rather general conditions, for large classes of weighted voting games, various values of the quota, and with respect to several measures of voting power. We use simulation to test this conjecture. It is corroborated w.r.t. the Penrose–Banzhaf index for a quota of 50% but not for other values; w.r.t. the Shapley–Shubik index the conjecture is corroborated for all values of the quota (short of 100%).
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  • Chang, Pao-Li & Chua, Vincent C.H. & Machover, Moshe, 2006. "L S Penrose's limit theorem: Tests by simulation," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 51(1), pages 90-106, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:matsoc:v:51:y:2006:i:1:p:90-106
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    1. Lindner, Ines & Machover, Moshe, 2004. "L.S. Penrose's limit theorem: proof of some special cases," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 37-49, January.
    2. Dan S. Felsenthal & Moshé Machover, 1998. "The Measurement of Voting Power," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 1489.
    3. Shapley, L. S. & Shubik, Martin, 1954. "A Method for Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(3), pages 787-792, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michel Le Breton & Dominique Lepelley, 2014. "Une analyse de la loi électorale du 29 juin 1820," Revue économique, Presses de Sciences-Po, vol. 65(3), pages 469-518.
    2. Kurz, Sascha & Maaser, Nicola & Napel, Stefan, 2018. "Fair representation and a linear Shapley rule," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 152-161.
    3. Sascha Kurz & Stefan Napel, 2014. "Heuristic and exact solutions to the inverse power index problem for small voting bodies," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 215(1), pages 137-163, April.
    4. Grimmett, Geoffrey R., 2019. "On influence and compromise in two-tier voting systems," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 35-45.
    5. Houy, Nicolas & Zwicker, William S., 2014. "The geometry of voting power: Weighted voting and hyper-ellipsoids," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 84(C), pages 7-16.
    6. de Mouzon, Olivier & Laurent, Thibault & Le Breton, Michel & Moyouwou, Issofa, 2020. "“One Man, One Vote” Part 1: Electoral Justice in the U.S. Electoral College: Banzhaf and Shapley/Shubik versus May," TSE Working Papers 20-1074, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    7. Guillermo Owen & Ines Lindner & Scott Feld & Bernard Grofman & Leonard Ray, 2006. "A simple “market value” bargaining model for weighted voting games: characterization and limit theorems," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 35(1), pages 111-128, December.
    8. Josep Freixas & Montserrat Pons, 2021. "An Appropriate Way to Extend the Banzhaf Index for Multiple Levels of Approval," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 30(2), pages 447-462, April.
    9. Dan S. Felsenthal, 2017. "Comment on “Proposals for a Democracy of the Future” by Bruno Frey," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 195-200, November.
    10. Artyom Jelnov & Yair Tauman, 2014. "Voting power and proportional representation of voters," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 43(4), pages 747-766, November.
    11. Sascha Kurz, 2020. "A note on limit results for the Penrose–Banzhaf index," Theory and Decision, Springer, vol. 88(2), pages 191-203, March.
    12. Le Breton, Michel & Lepelley, Dominique & Macé, Antonin & Merlin, Vincent, 2017. "Le mécanisme optimal de vote au sein du conseil des représentants d’un système fédéral," L'Actualité Economique, Société Canadienne de Science Economique, vol. 93(1-2), pages 203-248, Mars-Juin.
    13. Sascha Kurz, 2016. "The inverse problem for power distributions in committees," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 47(1), pages 65-88, June.
    14. Zaporozhets, Vera, 2015. "Power Distribution in French River Basin Committees," TSE Working Papers 15-558, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    15. Fabrice Barthélémy & Mathieu Martin, 2021. "Dummy Players and the Quota in Weighted Voting Games: Some Further Results," Studies in Choice and Welfare, in: Mostapha Diss & Vincent Merlin (ed.), Evaluating Voting Systems with Probability Models, pages 299-315, Springer.
    16. Lindner, Ines & Owen, Guillermo, 2007. "Cases where the Penrose limit theorem does not hold," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 53(3), pages 232-238, May.
    17. Nicola Maaser & Stefan Napel, 2007. "Equal representation in two-tier voting systems," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 28(3), pages 401-420, April.
    18. Leech, Dennis, 2010. "Power Indices in Large Voting Bodies," Economic Research Papers 270996, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    19. Debabrata Pal, 2021. "Does everyone have equal voting power?," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 515-525, December.
    20. Dennis Leech, 2013. "Power indices in large voting bodies," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 155(1), pages 61-79, April.
    21. Luca Alfieri & Nino Kokashvili, 2020. "Financial Safety Nets In East Asia And Europe: A Political Economy Assessment," University of Tartu - Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Paper Series 121, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, University of Tartu (Estonia).

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    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations

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