The Econometric SocietyEdited by: Guido W. Imbens • Print ISSN: 0012-9682 • Online ISSN: 1468-0262
Econometrica: Sep, 1979, Volume 47, Issue 5
https://doi.org/0012-9682(197909)47:5<1085:GCFGII>2.0.CO;2-4
p. 1085-1112
Richard D. McKelvey
This paper proves that for majority voting over multidimensional alternative spaces, the majority rule intransitivities can generally be expected to extend to the whole alternative space in such a way that virtually all points are in the same cycle set. In other words, given almost any two points in the alternative space, it is possible to construct a majority path which starts at the first, and ends at the second. It is shown that for the intransitivities not to extend to the whole space in this manner, extremely restrictive conditions must be met on the frontier (or boundary) of the cycle set. Similar results are shown to hold for any social choice rule derived from a strong simple game. These results hold under fairly weak assumptions on individual preferences: individuals need only have continuous utility representations of their preferences such that no two individuals' preferences coincide locally. The results seem to rule out the possibility, at least in models of interest to economists, of using the transitive closure of the majority relation as a useful social choice function. They also imply that under any social choice rule meeting the conditions assumed here, it is generally possible to design agendas based on binary procedures which will arrive at virtually any point in the alternative space, even Pareto dominated points.
March 5, 2024
The terms of the Editors of the Econometric Society's three journals end June 30, 2025. We are pleased to announce the incoming Editors and to thank the outgoing Editors for their excellent and continuing service.
Econometrica: Since 2019, Guido Imbens has served as the 14th Editor of Econometrica. On July 1, 2025, Marina Halac will become the Editor.
Quantitative Economics: Stéphane Bonhomme has been the Editor of Quantitative Economics since 2021. His successor will be Bernard Salanié.
Theoretical Economics: The Editor of Theoretical Economics since 2021 has been Simon Board. Taking over for him in July 2025 will be Federico Echenique.
Guido, Stéphane, and Simon have been outstanding Editors. We are grateful to them for the work they have done and will continue to do, and we look forward to further congratulating them next year. We believe Marina, Bernard, and Federico will be outstanding successors and we thank them in advance for their service.
Finally, we are grateful to Larry Samuelson for chairing all three search committees, and we thank the search committee members for their hard and fruitful work:
Econometrica: Christian Dustmann, Lars Hansen, Alessandro Lizzeri, George Mailath, Ariel Pakes, Helene Rey, and Elie Tamer.
QE: Kate Ho, Michael Keane, Felix Kubler, Whitney Newey, and Frank Schorfheide.
TE: Jeff Ely, Johannes Horner, Gilat Levy, Meg Meyer, and Ran Spiegler.
