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Consensus and the Act of Voting

Author

Listed:
  • J.C.R. Alcantud
  • R. de Andrés Calle
  • J.M. Cascón

Abstract

In this article we are concerned with assessing the cohesiveness of a society whose individual preferences are known. We analyse the axiomatic properties of a general proposal to measure aggregate satisfaction in terms of coherence of the expressed opinions, that relies on the consensus with reference to a select social preference. The formal concept of referenced consensus measures that we introduce permits to produce a numerical social evaluation from purely ordinal individual information. A referenced consensus measure can be specialized via two ways: the specification of the representative agent, or from a practical point of view, the choice of a voting mechanism; and the measure of agreement between profiles of orderings and individual orderings. Introducing a fictitious agent, or the result of the act of voting, as a reference is fit for the common case of actual social choices. We carry out a descriptive analysis of the formal properties of referenced consensus measures with an emphasis on two relevant cases whose explicit constructions are detailed.

Suggested Citation

  • J.C.R. Alcantud & R. de Andrés Calle & J.M. Cascón, 2013. "Consensus and the Act of Voting," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 1(1), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:miceco:v:1:y:2013:i:1:p:1-22
    DOI: 10.1177/2321022213488817
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    References listed on IDEAS

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