Re: poly: Re: Arrow's Social Choice Theorem / Borda count

From: Robin Hanson <rhanson@gmu.edu>
Date: Fri Apr 28 2000 - 08:47:13 PDT

At 08:15 AM 4/28/2000 -0700, you wrote:
> > I think you vastly overestimate the complexity tolerance of
> > ordinary voters. They could get used to Borda counting, but
> > it would be a significant bother, and they won't support it
>
>Have I missed something? All you do is rank the candidates. You're not
>openly allocating points yourself, just saying who you like best, second, so
>forth. Punch the (1) next to Harry Browne and the (2) next to Bill Clinton
>and ... you don't even need to rank everyone.

But voters do need to think they understand how the winner is picked.

>And the Economist says the system is currently used in Australia.

Well that does revise my estimate of voter complexity tolerance.

Robin Hanson rhanson@gmu.edu http://hanson.gmu.edu
Asst. Prof. Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323
Received on Fri Apr 28 08:55:47 2000

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