[EM] a bribe for Blake

MIKE OSSIPOFF nkklrp at hotmail.com
Wed Apr 5 20:11:32 PDT 2000


Blake:

What if, in a Margins election, I offered you 100 dollars to vote
several candidates in 1st place, even though you don't prefer
them equally.

100 dollars isn't much, as bribes go, but it's a lot more than
the tiny expectation improvement you gain from voting. So
it's to your advantage to take the bribe. I've given you an
incentive to insincerely rank one or more lower choices equal
to your favorite.

Now, are you worse off because of that incentive that I've given
you? No. In this case you're better off, at least a little. You've
gained by having that opportunity.

Yes, I have given you a difficult decision, as far as principle
is concerned. Yes, I've given you a strategic calculation to make.
But no, I haven't made you worse off. And you can igonre the
strategic calculation, and the bribe offer, and vote as if you
hadn't heard it, and you're no worse off for that either.

If Condorcet, in a 0-info election, sometimes gives you incentive
to insincerely rank your 2nd choice equal to your 1st choice,
then, it isn't at all clear how that makes you worse off either.

***

Aside from all that, I mentioned in previous messages that
Margins bribes you to decline to vote a preference 1.5 times
as often as Condorcet does.

***

Mike Ossipoff

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