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The flip side of power

Author

Listed:
  • Friedel Bolle

    (Faculty of Business Administration and Economics, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder))

  • Philipp E. Otto

    (European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder))

Abstract
Based on power indices as well as intuition, the chairman of a committee whose vote decides in the case of a draw has more power than ordinary voters. Even more powerful are members with veto right, who can block a majority vote. We pose the question whether giving one of the players in a majority voting game more power is beneficial for the powerful individual and/or the community. We find that, in our environment, the introduction of a powerful player is efficiency-improving, but that powerful players earn less than their ordinary co-players. Our environment is a Binary Threshold Public Good game which can also be interpreted as a general non- cooperative voting game. We supplement our investigation by successfully explaining behavior as a finite mixture of mostly equilibrium strategies.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedel Bolle & Philipp E. Otto, 2017. "The flip side of power," Discussion Paper Series RECAP15 26, RECAP15, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).
    • Handle: RePEc:euv:dpaper:26
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    veto power; tie-breaking power; binary threshold public goods; experiment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D71 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Social Choice; Clubs; Committees; Associations
    • D72 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Political Processes: Rent-seeking, Lobbying, Elections, Legislatures, and Voting Behavior
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

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