Symmetric and asymmetric committees

Arbeitspapier

This paper studies the assignment of decision makers to two committees that make decisions by a simple majority rule. There is an even number of decision makers at each of various skill levels and each committee has an odd number of members. Surprisingly, even with the symmetric assumptions in the spirit of Condorcet, a symmetric composition of committees is not always optimal. In other words, decision makers with different skill levels should not generally be evenly divided among the committees. However, in the special case of only two skill levels, it is optimal to compose the committees evenly.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: CESifo Working Paper ; No. 3501

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Analysis of Collective Decision-Making: General ; Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations ; Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
• Subject: committees ; collective decision making ; simple majority rule ; Gruppenentscheidung ; Qualifikation ; Abstimmungsregel ; Public Choice ; Theorie

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Ben-Yashar, Ruth ; Danziger, Leif
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Center for Economic Studies and ifo Institute (CESifo)
• (where): Munich
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/49467
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET