A New Quota Approach to Electoral Disproportionality

Miguel Martínez-Panero, Verónica Arredondo, Teresa Peña and Victoriano Ramírez
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Miguel Martínez-Panero: PRESAD Research Group, BORDA Research Unit, IMUVa, Departamento de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Verónica Arredondo: PRESAD Research Group, Unidad Académica de Matemáticas, Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas, Zacatecas 98000, Mexico
Teresa Peña: PRESAD Research Group, BORDA Research Unit, IMUVa, Departamento de Economía Aplicada, Universidad de Valladolid, 47011 Valladolid, Spain
Victoriano Ramírez: Departamento de Matemática Aplicada, Universidad de Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain

Economies, 2019, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-17

Abstract: In this paper electoral disproportionality is split into two types: (1) Forced or unavoidable, due to the very nature of the apportionment problem; and (2) non-forced. While disproportionality indexes proposed in the literature do not distinguish between such components, we design an index, called “quota index”, just measuring avoidable disproportionality. Unlike the previous indexes, the new one can be zero in real situations. Furthermore, this index presents an interesting interpretation concerning transfers of seats. Properties of the quota index and relationships with some usual disproportionality indexes are analyzed. Finally, an empirical approach is undertaken for different countries and elections.

Keywords: electoral systems; proportionality; electoral quota; disproportionality indexes; measurement; Spain; Sweden; Germany (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E F I J O Q (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jecomi:v:7:y:2019:i:1:p:17-:d:211159

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