BARGAINING, VOTING, AND VALUE

This paper addresses the following issue: If a set of agents bargain on a set of feasible alternatives 'in the shadow' of a voting rule, that is, any agreement can be enforced if a 'winning coalition' supports it, what general agreements are likely to arise? In other words: What influence can the voting rule used to settle (possibly non-unanimous) agreements have on the outcome of negotiations? To give an answer we model the situation as an extension of the Nash bargaining problem in which an arbitrary voting rule replaces unanimity to settle agreements by n players. This provides a setting in which a natural extension of Nash's solution is obtained axiomatically. Two extensions admitting randomization on voting rules based on two informational scenarios are considered.Bargaining, voting, value, bargaining in committees.

The Art of Compromise

Policy is modeled as the outcome of negotiations between two three-party parliamentary states. An election in jurisdiction A determines the composition of the legislature that selects a representative to negotiate an intergovernmental policy agreement with the representative from the legislature of jurisdiction B. Negotiations are modeled using Nash’s (1950) bargaining framework, modified to account for a simultaneous legislative ratification vote. Though agreements favor the legislative representative least willing to compromise, agreements between the bargainers may not follow the ordering of the parties’ ideal policies. An electoral outcome where support for the center party comes from extreme voters may emerge.Vote balancing; intergovernmental bargaining; legislative ratification; willingness to compromise

The Inter-Institutional Distribution of Power in EU Codecision

This paper analyzes the a priori influence of the European Parliament (EP) and the Council of Ministers (CM) on legislation of the European Union adopted under its codecision procedure. In contrast to studies which use conventional power indices, both institutions are assumed to act strategically. Predicted bargaining outcomes of the crucial Conciliation stage of codecision are shown to be strongly biased towards the legislative status quo. Making symmetric preference assumptions for members of CM and EP, CM is on average much more conservative because of its internal qualified majority rule. This makes CM by an order of magnitude more influential than EP, in contrast to a seeming formal parity between the two ‘co-legislators’.power measurement, European Union codecision procedure, bargaining, spatial voting, decision procedures

Asymmetrical bargaining in the conference on security and cooperation in Europe

Bargaining relationships in formal international conferences and negotiations may involve structural asymmetries. A comprehensive analysis of these asymmetries in bargaining may be found in a synthesis of literature from formal game theory, structural-manipulative approaches to bargaining, social psychology, and the study of political influence. Propositions based on this literature focus on two factors which are likely to contribute to asymmetrical outcomes in negotiations: unequal costs to the negotiators from the failure to agree, and unequal resources available to employ in bargaining or influence attempts. An analysis of bargaining in the section of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) dealing with the issues of European security gave qualified support to these propositions. Influence over the final text in the CSCE agreement is related to a rough index of losses which would have resulted for individual nations from the failure to reach agreement in the CSCE. In addition, influence over the final text is related to each nation's resources, especially military resources. More significantly, the two superpowers exerted considerable asymmetrical influence over what was not included in the CSCE agreement, thus exercising a substantial veto. Thus, the asymmetrical outcomes within the CSCE negotiations were reflective of both differences in "threat potential,” that is, in the losses which actors would receive if no agreement had ensued, as well as differences in resource

Cost Allocation: Methods, Principles, Applications

This book provides a theoretical framework for systematically evaluating the "pros" and "cons" of various methods. It also includes a series of case studies in cost allocation to give a sense of the real problems encountered in implementation. Among the examples treated are telecommunications pricing, multipurpose reservoir charges, and airport landing fees. Finally several articles address the broader fairness issues inherent in the pricing of public services. The history of the notion of the "just price" from medieval to modern times is discussed, together with observations on what principles seem to guide decisions in telecommunications rate cases in the United States. The connections between cost allocation, efficiency, and entry in the telecommunications market are also examined in two different contexts: the U.S. and France. The overall aim of the book is to provide theoretical foundations for using specific methods, to examine the distributional and fairness issues involved in cost allocation, and to give a sense of the practical problems encountered in implementation. The book will appeal to practitioners interested in what allocation methods are available, and to theorists concerned with their axiomatic foundations

The Reintegration of Political Science and Economics and the Presumed Imperialism of Economic Theory

No discipline can claim a greater impact on contemporary political theorizing than that of economics, whether that theorizing concerns the study of legislatures, elections, international affairs, or judicial processes. This essay questions, however, whether this impact is a form of "economic imperialism," or the logical development of two disciplines whose artificial separation in the first part of this century merely allowed the development and refinement of the rational choice paradigm, unencumbered by the necessity for considering all of reality. Indeed, applications to specific substantive political matters -- most notably collective and cooperative processes where game theory proves most relevant -- reveal the paradigm's incompleteness. These applications, however, illuminate the necessary theoretical extensions, which is no longer the sole domain of the economist

The Reintegration of Political Science and Economics and the Presumed Imperialism of Economic Theory

No discipline can claim a greater impact on contemporary political theorizing than that of economics, whether that theorizing concerns the study of legislatures, elections, international affairs, or judicial processes. This essay questions, however, whether this impact is a form of "economic imperialism," or the logical development of two disciplines whose artificial separation in the first part of this century merely allowed the development and refinement of the rational choice paradigm, unencumbered by the necessity for considering all of reality. Indeed, applications to specific substantive political matters -- most notably collective and cooperative processes where game theory proves most relevant -- reveal the paradigm's incompleteness. These applications, however, illuminate the necessary theoretical extensions, which is no longer the sole domain of the economist

Die politische Ökonomie der Europäischen Gemeinsamen Fischereipolitik

This dissertation addresses the political economy of the Common Fisheries Policy and investigates how traditional concepts can hinder the success of the European fisheries management. The first paper focuses on the institutional set-up of the decision-making process. This process is modeled as a dynamic non-cooperative game in discrete time. It is shown that due to the uncertainty in the annual TAC setting the optimal feedback strategy for the impatient decision-makers is to set inefficiently high TACs in Markov-perfect Nash equilibrium. According to this theoretical analysis, the institutional set-up of the decision-making process itself promotes inefficient TACs. A binding commitment between the two groups of decision-makers to a long-term management plan could lead to a more sustainable fisheries management. The second paper is concerned with an empirical analysis of the distribution of bargaining power between different interests groups in the TAC decision-making of the European Union. The process is modeled as a cooperative game between two players with different interests regarding TACs. The estimation results show that the player representing interests of the fishing industry has the stronger bargaining position compared to the player representing conservation interests. The analysis also shows that scientific recommendations have a greater influence in the bargaining when the underlying data is of good quality. The conclusion is that effective TAC management requires both, a sound scientific assessment and a stronger inclusion of scientific advice. The third paper investigates the regional trade-offs of different management options of a multi-species management in the Baltic Sea. An ecological-economic model of the Baltic Sea is developed simulating the stock dynamics of interacting population in order to investigate a set of different strategic management options. The profits for each country participating in the Baltic fishery differ between the management options. We show that the inflexibility of TAC distribution according to the principle of relative stability can lead to regional inequality in future profits. A reallocation of profits is required to achieve a concordant agreement on strategic multi-species management goals. The fourth paper examines the efficiency of different segments of the Baltic trawler fleet in order to evaluate whether quota trade between vessels of different countries could improve the situation. The distance function approach is used to derive an equation to estimate the efficiencies of different fleet segments. Data for different vessel length categories for different countries is used. The estimation reveals significant asymmetries in the efficiencies between countries. Allowing for quota trade in the Baltic fleet could improve the overall efficiency. Such a transnational quota trading system would enable the fleet to coordinate its fishing activities far more flexible than under the fixed allocation of TACs according to the principle of relative stability

SDSU Collegian, April 29, 1981

Vol. 89, No. 31https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/collegian_1980-1989/1045/thumbnail.jp