Synopses & Reviews
Processes of collective decision making are seen throughout modern society. How does a government decide on an investment strategy within the health care and educational sectors? Should a government or a community introduce measures to combat climate change and CO2 emissions, even if others choose not too? Should a country develop a nuclear capability despite the risk that other countries may follow their lead?
This introductory text explores the theory of social choice. Social choice theory provides an analysis of collective decision making. The main aim of the book is to introduce students to the various methods of aggregating the preferences of all members of a given society into some social or collective preference. Written as a primer suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduates, this text will act as an important starting point for students grappling with the complexities of social choice theory. With all new chapter exercises this rigorous yet accessible primer avoids the use of technical language and provides an up-to-date discussion of this rapidly developing field.
Review
"Professor Gaertner's book provides an admirable introduction to the theory of social choice. It combines rigorous reasoning with remarkable lucidity of exposition. Its coverage of topics is extensive. I envy the beginning student who learns social choice theory from Professor Gaertner's book."--Prasanta K. Pattanaik, Professor of Economics, University of California, Riverside
"Wulf Gaertner's book is both an excellent book of social choice theory and an outstanding primer that will surely soon become a standard reference. Students now have available to them an up-to-date and comprehensive introductory text in social choice theory, fulfilling any expectations they may have in respect of clarity, rigor and the development of the subject...all economists, philosophers or mathematicians who might wish to work on the problem of aggregation or of justice, as well as any economist in general, would gain from this book a quick and uncontroversial overview of the field"--Antoinette Baujard, Social Choice and Welfare
"It will instantly become the best introductory (and a lot more) text on the subject. It can be used at the undergraduate level or beginning graduate level for courses on social choice, but also on social justice, public economics, welfare economics, political economy, positive political theory, etc."--Maurice Salles, Universite de Caen Basse-Normandie
Synopsis
This introductory text explores the theory of social choice. Written as a primer suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduates, this text will act as an important starting point for students grappling with the complexities of social choice theory. Rigorous yet accessible, this primer avoids the use of technical language and provides an up-to-date discussion of this rapidly developing field. This is the first in a series of texts published in association with the LSE.
About the Author
Wulf Gaertner is Professor of Economics at the University of Osnabrück in Germany and Fellow of Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin. He has held several visiting posts at Tulane University, Harvard University, and the London School of Economics and Political Science, and was the recipient of the Ludwig Lachmann Research Fellowship from the LSE for the period 2006-2008. Professor Gaertner is also one of the managing editors of the journal, Social Choice and Welfare.
Table of Contents
Glossary of major concepts
1. Introduction
2. Arrow's Impossibility Result
3. Majority Decision Under Restricted Domains
4. Individual Rights
5. Manipulability
6. Espacing Impossibilities: Social Choice Rules
7. Distributive Justice: Rawlsian and Utilitarian Rules
8. Cooperative Bargaining
9. Empirical Social Choice
10. A Few Steps Beyond