The Arrow Impossibility Theorem

ISBN-13: 9780231153287 / Angielski / Twarda / 2014 / 168 str.

Eric Maskin; Amartya Sen; Kenneth J. Arrow

Opis

Kenneth J. Arrow's pathbreaking "impossibility theorem" was a watershed innovation in the history of welfare economics, voting theory, and collective choice, demonstrating that there is no voting rule that satisfies the four desirable axioms of decisiveness, consensus, nondictatorship, and independence.

In this book Eric Maskin and Amartya Sen explore the implications of Arrow's theorem. Sen considers its ongoing utility, exploring the theorem's value and limitations in relation to recent research on social reasoning, and Maskin discusses how to design a voting rule that gets us closer to the ideal--given the impossibility of achieving the ideal. The volume also contains a contextual introduction by social choice scholar Prasanta K. Pattanaik and commentaries from Joseph E. Stiglitz and Kenneth J. Arrow himself, as well as essays by Maskin, Dasgupta, and Sen outlining the mathematical proof and framework behind their assertions.

Recenzje

"Without hyperbole, no postwar intellectual of the first rank has done more good for more people - above all, many of the world's poorest - than Amartya Sen." - Boyd Tonkin, The Independent

O autorze

Amartya Sen is the Thomas W. Lamont University Professor and Professor of Economics and Philosophy at Harvard University. In 1998, he was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, and in 1999, he was awarded the Bharat Ratna, Indias highest civilian award. He is also a senior fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, distinguished fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. His books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Eric Maskin is an Adams University Professor at Harvard University. He received the 2007 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (with L. Hurwicz and R. Myerson) for laying the foundations of mechanism design theory. He has also made contributions to game theory, contract theory, social choice theory, political economy, and other areas of economics.