Economic Analysis of Social Issues 1st Edition by Alan Grant

Exercise 5

Arrow's impossibility theorem allows us to conclude that if there are three or more candidates, there is no system of voting that can consistently produce a fair choice. While this is discouraging, it is probably not too surprising that we would have some trouble determining "fairness" in relation to voting. All the voting systems we considered gave each individual the same amount of voting power (not considering individuals who may be setting the agenda). Is this truly fair? Certain individuals may have a greater stake in an issue: Should they have more voting power? Can you think of any other criteria that may warrant giving certain individuals greater voting power on certain issues?