Standard Voting Power Indices Work: An Experimental Investigation of Pure Voting Power

Abstract

We evaluate the accuracy of power indices by experimentally measuring the political power embodied in blocks of votes per se. The experiment incorporates several subjects interacting in online chat rooms under supervision. Chat rooms and processes for selecting subjects reduce or eliminate extraneous political forces leaving logrolling as the primary political force. Results show that two standard power indices reflect voting power while other power indices and proportionality do not.Voting, Power Index, P Power, Shapley-Shubik, Banzhaf, Johnston, Burgin, Experiment.