On the Axiomatic Characterization of "Who is a J?"

Abstract

Recent work by Kasher and Rubinstein (1997) considers the problem of group identification from a social choice perspective.These authors provide an axiomatic characterization of a liberal aggregator whereby the group consist of those and only those individuals each of which views oneself a member of the group.In the present paper we show that the five axioms used in Kasher and Rubinstein s characterization of the liberal aggregator are not independent and prove that only three of their original axioms are necessary and sufficient for the required characterization.aggregation;group identification;axiomatic method