Ethical considerations on quadratic voting

Ben Laurence () and Itai Sher ()
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Ben Laurence: University of Chicago
Itai Sher: University of California, San Diego

Public Choice, 2017, vol. 172, issue 1, No 9, 195-222

Abstract: Abstract This paper explores ethical issues raised by quadratic voting. We compare quadratic voting to majority voting from two ethical perspectives: the perspective of utilitarianism and that of democratic theory. From a utilitarian standpoint, the comparison is ambiguous: if voter preferences are independent of wealth, then quadratic voting outperforms majority voting, but if voter preferences are polarized by wealth, then majority voting may be superior. From the standpoint of democratic theory, we argue that assessments in terms of efficiency are too narrow. Voting institutions and political institutions more generally face a legitimacy requirement. We argue that in the presence of inequalities of wealth, any vote buying mechanism, including quadratic voting, will have a difficult time meeting this requirement.

Keywords: Quadratic voting; Majority voting; Utilitarianism; Democratic legitimacy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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DOI: 10.1007/s11127-017-0413-4

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