Voting Power in the Australian Senate: 1901-2004

Alex Robson ()

ANUCBE School of Economics Working Papers from Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics

Abstract: Indices of voting power are intended to measure the a priori degree of in.uence that a voter or party can expect to have in framing legislation or passing motions. Commonly used measures include those proposed by Shapley and Shubik (1954), Banzhaf (1965) and Deegan and Packel (1978). This paper computes these power indices for the Australian Senate for the period 1901-2004. The introduction of the Single Transferable Vote in the Senate in 1949 appears to have had a profound effect on the voting power of both major parties, as well as on the degree of concentration of voting power.

New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-gth and nep-pol
Date: 2007-06
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