The Econometric SocietyEdited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262
Econometrica: Jul, 1988, Volume 56, Issue 4
https://doi.org/0012-9682(198807)56:4<787:O6R>2.0.CO;2-H
p. 787-814
Andrew Caplin, Barry Nalebuff
Many electoral rules (such as those governing the U.S. Constitution) require a super-majority vote to change the status quo. It is well known that without some restriction on preferences, super-majority rules have paradoxical properties. For example, electoral cycles are possible with anything other than 100%-majority rule. Can these problems still arise if there is sufficient similarity of attitudes among the voting population? We introduce a definition of social consensus which involves two restrictions ondomain: one on individual preferences, the other on the distribution of preferences. Individuals vote for the proposal closest (in Euclidean distance) to ther most preferred point. The density of voters' ideal points is concave over its support in R''. Under these conditions, there exists an unbeatable proposal according to 64%-majority rule. In addition, no electoral cycles are possible. For n-dimensional decision problems, the precise majority size necessary to avoid cycles is 1 - (n/n + 1))^n which rises monotonically to 1 - (1/e), just below 64%. Our approach is based on the Simpson-Kramer min-max rule. We compare this rule with Condorcet's original proposal for an electoral system immune to his paradox of votiing. We conclude by considering the properties of a voting constitution based on 64%-majority rule.
March 5, 2024
The terms of the Editors of the Econometric Society's three journals end June 30, 2025. We are pleased to announce the incoming Editors and to thank the outgoing Editors for their excellent and continuing service.
Econometrica: Since 2019, Guido Imbens has served as the 14th Editor of Econometrica. On July 1, 2025, Marina Halac will become the Editor.
Quantitative Economics: Stéphane Bonhomme has been the Editor of Quantitative Economics since 2021. His successor will be Bernard Salanié.
Theoretical Economics: The Editor of Theoretical Economics since 2021 has been Simon Board. Taking over for him in July 2025 will be Federico Echenique.
Guido, Stéphane, and Simon have been outstanding Editors. We are grateful to them for the work they have done and will continue to do, and we look forward to further congratulating them next year. We believe Marina, Bernard, and Federico will be outstanding successors and we thank them in advance for their service.
Finally, we are grateful to Larry Samuelson for chairing all three search committees, and we thank the search committee members for their hard and fruitful work:
Econometrica: Christian Dustmann, Lars Hansen, Alessandro Lizzeri, George Mailath, Ariel Pakes, Helene Rey, and Elie Tamer.
QE: Kate Ho, Michael Keane, Felix Kubler, Whitney Newey, and Frank Schorfheide.
TE: Jeff Ely, Johannes Horner, Gilat Levy, Meg Meyer, and Ran Spiegler.
