Leech, Dennis and Leech, Robert, Dr. (2004) Voting power and voting blocs. Working Paper. Coventry: University of Warwick, Department of Economics. (Warwick economic research papers.

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Abstract

We investigate the applicability of voting power indices, in particular the Penrose index (aka absolute Banzhaf index), in the analysis of voting blocs by means of a hypothetical voting body. We use the power of individual bloc members to study the implications of the formation of blocs and how voting power varies as bloc size varies. This technique of analysis has many real world applications to legislatures and international bodies. It can be generalised in many ways: the analysis is a priori (assuming formal voting and ignoring actual voting behaviour) but can be made empirical with voting data; it examines the consequences of two blocs but can easily be extended to more.

Item Type:	Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HB Economic Theory
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Voting research, Social choice, Power (Social sciences), Group decision making
Series Name:	Warwick economic research papers
Publisher:	University of Warwick, Department of Economics
Place of Publication:	Coventry
Date:	July 2004
Number:	No.716
Number of Pages:	23
Status:	Not Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Open Access
References:	Brams, Stephen and P. J. Affuso (1976), “Power and Size: a New Paradox,” Theory and Decision, 7, 29-56. Coleman, James S (1970) "The Benefits of Coalition", Public Choice, *, 45-61. ------------------------(1971) "Control of Collectivities and the Power of a Collectivity to Act," in B.Lieberman (ed), Social Choice, New York, Gordon and Breach; reprinted in J.S. Coleman, 1986, Individual Interests and Collective Action, Cambridge University Press. -----------------------(1973), "Loss of Power", American Sociological Review, 38,1-17. Feller (1950), Introduction to Probability theory and Its Applications, volume 1 (3rd Edition), Wiley. Felsenthal, Dan S. and Moshé Machover, (1998),The Measurement of Voting Power, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar. Holler, Manfred (1981), (Ed.), Power, Voting and Voting Power, Physica-Verlag, Wurtzburg. Leech, Dennis (2002), “An Empirical Comparison of the Performance of Classical Power Indices”, Political Studies, 1-15. Leech, Dennis and Robert Leech (2004a), Algorithms for Computing Voting Power Indices, University of Warwick, website, www.warwick.ac.uk/~ecaae/ ---------------------------------------(2004b), “Voting Power in the Bretton Woods Institutions”, mimeo, University of Warwick. Lucas, William F. (1983), “Measuring Power in Weighted Voting Systems,” in S. Brams, W. Lucas and P. Straffin (eds.), Political and Related Models, Springer. Owen, Guillermo (1995), Game Theory,(3rd Edition) , Academic Press. Penrose, L.S. (1946), "The Elementary Statistics of Majority Voting," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, 109, 53-57. Riker, William H. (1959), “A Test of the Adequacy of the Power Index”, Behavioral Science, 120-131. Shapley, Lloyd S. and Martin Shubik (1954), “A Method of Evaluating the Distribution of Power in a Committee System”, American Political Science Review, 48, 787-792. Simon, Herbert A. (1957), Models of Man, New York: Wiley. Straffin, Philip D. (1994), "Power and Stability in Politics," chapter 32 of Aumann, Robert J and Sergiu Hart (eds.), Handbook of Game Theory, Volume 2, North-Holland.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/1474

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