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Measuring voting power: The paradox of new members vs the null player axiom

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  • László Á. Kóczy

    (Budapest Tech)

Abstract

Qualified majority voting is used when decisions are made by voters of different sizes. In such situations the voters' influence on decision making is far from obvious; power measures are used for an indication of the decision making ability. Several power measures have been proposed and characterised by simple axioms to help the choice between them. Unfortunately the power measures also feature a number of so-called paradoxes of voting power. In this paper we show that the Paradox of New Members follows from the Null Player Axiom. As a corollary of this result it follows that there does not exist a power measure that satisfies the axiom, while not exhibiting the Paradox.

Suggested Citation

  • László Á. Kóczy, 2009. "Measuring voting power: The paradox of new members vs the null player axiom," Working Paper Series 0903, Óbuda University, Keleti Faculty of Business and Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:pkk:wpaper:0903
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kóczy Á., László, 2011. "Lisszaboni kilátások [Lisbon prospects]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(12), pages 1045-1058.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    a priori voting power; paradox of new members; null player axiom;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C71 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Cooperative Games
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior

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