Decision by majorities is as much an expedient as lighting by gas.
William GladstoneThere are two general rules. First, the more grave and important the questions discussed, the nearer should the opinion that is to prevail approach to unanimity. Second, the more the matter in hand calls for speed, the smaller the prescribed difference in the number of votes may be allowed to become: when an immediate decision has to be reached, a majority of one should suffice.
Jean-Jacques RousseauThis and the next four chapters explore the properties of various voting rules. These rules can be thought of as governing the polity itself, as when decisions are made in a town meeting or by referendum, or an assembly, or a committee of representatives of the citizenry. Following Black (1958), we shall often refer to “committee decisions” as being the outcomes of the voting process. It should be kept in mind, however, that the word “committee” is employed in this wider sense, and can imply a committee of the entire polity voting, as in a referendum. When a committee of representatives is implied, the results can be strictly related only to the preferences of the representatives themselves. The relationship between citizen and representative preferences is taken up later.
The unanimity rule
Since all can benefit from the provision of a public good, the obvious voting rule for providing it would seem to be unanimous consent. Wicksell (1896) was the first to link the potential for all to benefit from collective action to the unanimity rule.
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