This paper studies families of social choice functions (SCF’s), i.e. a collection of social choice functions {ΦA}, where the family is indexed by the option set of choices. These (sets of) functions arise in sequential choice problems where at each stage a set of options is given to a population of voters and a choice rule must aggregate stated preferences to generate an aggregate choice. In su...

We examine the consequences of vote buying, as if this practice were allowed and free of stigma. Two parties competing in a binary election may purchase votes via up front binding payments and/or payments (platforms) that are contingent upon the outcome of the election. If voters care only about outcomes and not directly about how they vote, then the party with the largest budget wins at a negl...

Both presidential candidates talk about changes in health care and a reinvestment in biomedical research, but we need to influence what happens before and after the election. Both presidential candidates have been touched by cancer. John McCain has had a number of melanomas, and Barack Obama’s mother died of ovarian cancer. Do you ever wonder how their personal experiences affect their healthca...

We review the influence of voting advice applications (VAAs) on three core outcomes: turnout, vote choice, and issue knowledge. In a meta-analysis 55 effects reported in 22 studies, comprising 73,673 participants 9 countries, we find strong evidence for positive VAA usage turnout (OR = 1.87; 95% CI [1.50, 2.33]) choice 1.44; [1.16, 1.78]) as well modest knowledge increase (partial correlation 0...

This paper focuses on decision making under risk, comparing group and individual risk preferences in a lottery-choice experiment inspired by Holt and Laury (2002). The experiment presents subjects with a menu of unordered lottery choices which allows us to measure risk aversion. In the individual treatment, subjects make lottery choices individually; in the group treatment, each subject was pla...

Yes Vote Message: a cohort receives a VOTE REQ, and it responds by sending a yes or no vote message (Yes or NO VOTE, Yes Vote also known as PREPARED message) to the coordinator (Shanker, Misra, & Sarje, 2009a) Yet Another Workflow Language (YAWL): a process modelling and execution language based on the workflow patterns and Petri nets. YAWL is also the name of the corresponding workflow system ...

American voters are assigned to vote at a particular polling location (e.g., a church, school, etc.). We show these assigned polling locations can influence how people vote. Analysis of a recent general election demonstrates that people who were assigned to vote in schools were more likely to support a school funding initiative. This effect persisted even when controlling for voters' political ...

Abstract Research on the politics of social investment finds public opinion to be highly supportive expansive reforms and expects this support matter for expanding investment. Expanding investment, it is argued, should particularly attractive left-wing voters parties because egalitarian potential such policies. However, few studies have examined what extent individual preferences concerning rea...

This paper uses new methods and unique new data to both demonstrate that individual-level unemployment affects individual voting decisions and that county-level layoffs had a substantial effect on the outcome of the 2008 presidential election. First, panel data from a series of elections is used to show that changes in non-subjective measures of economic wellbeing strongly predict an individual...