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Social and Information Sciences Laboratory (SISL) Seminar

Friday, November 22, 2019
12:00pm to 1:00pm
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Baxter B125
Equitable Voting Rules
Omer Tamuz, Assistant Professor of Economics and Mathematics, Caltech,

Abstract: May's Theorem (1952), a celebrated result in social choice, provides the foundation for majority rule. May's crucial assumption of symmetry, often thought of as a procedural equity requirement, is violated by many choice procedures that grant voters identical roles. We show that a modification of May's symmetry assumption allows for a far richer set of rules that still treat voters equally, but have minimal winning coalitions comprising a vanishing fraction of the population. We conclude that procedural fairness can coexist with the empowerment of a small minority of individuals. Methodologically, we introduce techniques from group theory and illustrate their usefulness for the analysis of social choice questions.
Written with Laurent Bartholdi, Wade Hann-Caruthers, Maya Josyula and Leeat Yariv.

NOTE: Location changed from Baxter 125 to Baxter B125.

For more information, please contact Mary Martin by phone at 626-395-4571 or by email at mmartin@caltech.edu.