IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/series/v9y2018i3d10.1007_s13209-018-0182-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impossibility theorems with countably many individuals

Author

Listed:
  • Uuganbaatar Ninjbat

    (The National University of Mongolia)

Abstract

The problem of social choice is studied on a domain with countably many individuals. In contrast to most of the existing literature which establish either non-constructive possibilities or approximate (i.e. invisible) dictators, we show that if one adds a continuity property to the usual set of axioms, the classical impossibilities persist in countable societies. Along the way, a new proof of the Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem in the style of Peter Fishburn’s well known proof of Arrow’s impossibility theorem is obtained.

Suggested Citation

  • Uuganbaatar Ninjbat, 2018. "Impossibility theorems with countably many individuals," SERIEs: Journal of the Spanish Economic Association, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 333-350, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:9:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s13209-018-0182-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s13209-018-0182-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s13209-018-0182-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s13209-018-0182-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fishburn, Peter C., 1970. "Arrow's impossibility theorem: Concise proof and infinite voters," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 103-106, March.
    2. Mark Fey, 2014. "A straightforward proof of Arrow's theorem," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 34(3), pages 1792-1797.
    3. H. Reiju Mihara, 2000. "Coalitionally strategyproof functions depend only on the most-preferred alternatives," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 17(3), pages 393-402.
    4. Brown, Donald J., 1974. "An approximate solution to Arrow's problem," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 9(4), pages 375-383, December.
    5. Vassilakis, Spyros, 1992. "Some economic applications of Scott domains," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 24(2-3), pages 173-208, November.
    6. Uuganbaatar Ninjbat, 2015. "Impossibility theorems are modified and unified," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 45(4), pages 849-866, December.
    7. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Klaus Ritzberger, 2016. "The Theory of Extensive Form Games," Springer Series in Game Theory, Springer, number 978-3-662-49944-3, June.
    8. Can, Burak & Storcken, Ton, 2018. "A re-characterization of the Kemeny distance," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 112-116.
    9. Satterthwaite, Mark Allen, 1975. "Strategy-proofness and Arrow's conditions: Existence and correspondence theorems for voting procedures and social welfare functions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 187-217, April.
    10. Ning Yu, 2015. "A quest for fundamental theorems of social choice," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 44(3), pages 533-548, March.
    11. Surekha Rao & Achille Basile & K. P. S. Bhaskara Rao, 2018. "On the ultrafilter representation of coalitionally strategy-proof social choice functions," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, April.
    12. Kirman, Alan P. & Sondermann, Dieter, 1972. "Arrow's theorem, many agents, and invisible dictators," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 267-277, October.
    13. Ninjbat, Uuganbaatar, 2018. "A Missing Proof Of The Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 59(1), pages 1-8, June.
    14. Cato, Susumu, 2011. "Maskin monotonicity and infinite individuals," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 110(1), pages 56-59, January.
    15. Hannu Salonen & Kari Saukkonen, 2005. "On continuity of Arrovian social welfare functions," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 25(1), pages 85-93, October.
    16. Chichilnisky, Graciela, 1980. "Social choice and the topology of spaces of preferences," MPRA Paper 8006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Reny, Philip J., 2001. "Arrow's theorem and the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem: a unified approach," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 70(1), pages 99-105, January.
    18. Torres, Ricard, 2005. "Limiting Dictatorial rules," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 913-935, November.
    19. Mihara, H. Reiju, 1999. "Arrow's theorem, countably many agents, and more visible invisible dictators1," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(3), pages 267-287, November.
    20. Svensson, Lars-Gunnar & Reffgen, Alexander, 2014. "The proof of the Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem revisited," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 11-14.
    21. Bengt Hansson, 1976. "The existence of group preference functions," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 28(1), pages 89-98, December.
    22. Gibbard, Allan, 1973. "Manipulation of Voting Schemes: A General Result," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(4), pages 587-601, July.
    23. Armstrong, Thomas E., 1980. "Arrow's theorem with restricted coalition algebras," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 55-75, March.
    24. Suzumura, Kotaro, 1988. "Reduction of Social Choice Problems : A Simple Proof of Arrow’s General Possibility Theorem," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 29(2), pages 219-221, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Susumu Cato, 2019. "The possibility of Paretian anonymous decision-making with an infinite population," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 53(4), pages 587-601, December.
    2. Cato, Susumu, 2017. "Unanimity, anonymity, and infinite population," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 28-35.
    3. Kari Saukkonen, 2007. "Continuity of social choice functions with restricted coalition algebras," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 28(4), pages 637-647, June.
    4. Susumu Cato, 2022. "Stable preference aggregation with infinite population," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 59(2), pages 287-304, August.
    5. Shino Takayama & Akira Yokotani, 2017. "Social choice correspondences with infinitely many agents: serial dictatorship," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 48(3), pages 573-598, March.
    6. Shino Takayama & Akira Yokotani, 2014. "Serial Dictatorship with Infinitely Many Agents," Discussion Papers Series 503, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    7. Davide Grossi, 2021. "Lecture Notes on Voting Theory," Papers 2105.00216, arXiv.org.
    8. Kim Border, 1984. "An impossibility theorem for spatial models," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 43(3), pages 293-305, January.
    9. Andrei Gomberg & César Martinelli & Ricard Torres, 2005. "Anonymity in large societies," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 25(1), pages 187-205, October.
    10. Pierre Batteau, 1978. "Stability of Aggregation Procedures, Ultrafilters and Simple Games," Discussion Papers 318, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
    11. Priscilla Man & Shino Takayama, 2013. "A unifying impossibility theorem," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 54(2), pages 249-271, October.
    12. Uuganbaatar Ninjbat, 2015. "Impossibility theorems are modified and unified," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 45(4), pages 849-866, December.
    13. Herzberg, Frederik S., 2008. "Judgement aggregation functions and ultraproducts," MPRA Paper 10546, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Sep 2008.
    14. Susumu Cato, 2010. "Brief proofs of Arrovian impossibility theorems," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 35(2), pages 267-284, July.
    15. Ricard Torres, 2002. "Smallness of Invisible Dictators," Working Papers 0213, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM, revised Sep 2003.
    16. Surekha Rao & Achille Basile & K. P. S. Bhaskara Rao, 2018. "On the ultrafilter representation of coalitionally strategy-proof social choice functions," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, April.
    17. Lauwers, Luc & Van Liedekerke, Luc, 1995. "Ultraproducts and aggregation," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 217-237.
    18. Susumu Cato, 2013. "Quasi-decisiveness, quasi-ultrafilter, and social quasi-orderings," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 41(1), pages 169-202, June.
    19. Bossert, Walter & Cato, Susumu, 2020. "Acyclicity, anonymity, and prefilters," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 134-141.
    20. Susumu Cato, 2013. "Alternative proofs of Arrow’s general possibility theorem," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 1(2), pages 131-137, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Arrow’s impossibility theorem; The Gibbard–Satterthwaite theorem; Infinite society; Continuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General
    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:series:v:9:y:2018:i:3:d:10.1007_s13209-018-0182-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.