[EM] Simpson-Kramer definition

Markus Schulze markus.schulze at alumni.tu-berlin.de
Wed Apr 13 23:18:29 PDT 2005


Hallo,

this is Levin and Nalebuff's description of the Simpson-
Kramer method (Jonathan Levin, Barry Nalebuff, "An
Introduction to Vote-Counting Schemes", Journal of Economic
Perspectives, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 3--26, Winter 1995):

> For our purposes, we assume that voters rank all the
> candidates on their ballots, and do not score candidates
> as ties. Many theorists have addressed the issue of how
> to deal with voters who either fail to rank some candidates,
> or rank two or more candidates as tied. Because of the
> immediate complications these issues generate, we try to
> avoid raising them in the general discussion.
>
> (...)
>
> The Simpson-Kramer min-max rule adheres to the principles
> offered by Condorcet in that it emphasizes large majorities
> over small majorities. A candidate's "max" score is the
> largest number of votes against that candidate across all
> head-to-head matchups. The rule selects the candidate with
> the minimum max score. A Condorcet winner will always be a
> min-max winner. When there is a cycle, we can think of the
> min-max winner as being the "least-objectionable" candidate.

Markus Schulze



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