Björn Stefánsson

The Reykjavik Academy · Democracy Center

Borda's vote method was used by the French Academy from 1796 to 1803 when Napoleon got it abolished. In the laws and regulations of the Academy there are stipulations regarding the election of new members. The practice is demonstrated by some examples from the protocols. In fact, Borda presented two vote methods which he showed would give the same...

The subject is four contributions in group choice theory which were presented in Quality & Quantity. They were soon highly estimated by some few theorists. Despite it they have not been a topic in the literature. The question is why. The first contribution was fund voting and the second sequential choice, both of interest for academics and the gene...

Two systems compared, a society where money transactions are dominating and a society where fund voting is put into practice.

The Government of Iceland launched ideas for changes of the constitution concerning the country´s president, seeking comments from the public. The following comment was sent 21 of July 2020.

By applying fund voting a forum is established to introduce and process cases, may be without any formal leadership.

Democracy with sequential choice and fund voting, became a breakthrough for the insight into the application of fund voting where articles since then show to an ever increasing extent how the application of sequential choice and fund voting may reflect a procedure and a feeling which characterize a society which is to be desired, but is so small th...

An example describes how fund voting is carried on to promote a desirable composition of a committee's members. This is compared with the normal way for the election of a committee and commented with a few words.

It is an assumption of a municipality where the idea is to prepare in fund voting some subject fields that are then to be submitted for conclusion by traditional voting, i.e. for, against, abstain.

A single vote is an expression for the individual, for parts of a group and for the group as a whole. A voting is formally the group's conclusion where it can either be a way to find a standpoint which was not clear and approve it, or to accept and confirm an opinion which is already at hand. Sequential choice and fund voting are evaluated in relat...

The rules sequential choice and fund voting are examined with regard to how voters, including representatives, have the possibility to present issues and to express preferences or lack of preferences, i.e. their ranking by both of the methods, and their intensity by fund voting. The methods are described and analyzed in theory and by presenting exp...

The rule sequential choice is included in the authors´ analysis

In the theory of collective choice some six news have been presented since 1970. It is explained how these news came into existence, how they were approved without delay by the most capable scientists and how the academic world in general has reacted.

Caution is necessary when numbers are used to compare voting methods.

The following six stages in the development of collective choice theory since 1970 are as a point of view for the discussion, i.e. 1) introduction of intensity in voting; 2) Arrow's dissociation from the condition of independence of irrelevant alternatives in voting; 3) introduction of the concept choice meaning; 4) rejection, with regard to econom...

Public economics are revised regarding two recently constructed voting procedures, fund voting and sequential choice. Concerning government there is a presentation of a fund voting perspective on public economy, together with reflections on motives for public sector intervention in economy and on public sector growth. Departures from efficiency are...

Four statements are presented about Arrow´s possibility theorem, where the first is editorial, a conventional one, but three are opposing the conventional idea about irrelevant alternatives, one of them by Riker and two by Arrow himself.

The note is made in the light of two procedures, the newcomers sequential choice and fund voting. Two basic assumptions in the volume are rejected, i.e. Condorcet´s contribution and Arrow´s theorem. The importance of a choice meaning for an electoral procedure is claimed.

As the author throughout the book bases his discussion on Arrow´s impossibility theorem of 1951 it is deplorable that he omits Arrow´s opinion in 1972 and statements in 1991 quite different from his theorem of 1951.

The volume contains several shortcomings with regard to the ibooks Democracy with sequential choice and fund voting and On Arrow´s possibility theorem.

Presidential election by sequential choice makes the election more trustworthy the more candidates there are.

Attention is drawn to sources important for the writing of an ambitious book on voting rules, with the themes voting paradox, a meaning inherent in voting rules and Arrow´s impossibility theorem where irrelevant alternatives are important.

The question of meaning inherent in a voting rule is discussed. Arrow´s remarks on irrelevant alternatives, published in 1972 and 1991, are unfortunately ignored.

Concerning the author´s reference to Arrow´s impossibility theorem of 1951 it is deplorable that Arrow´s opinion in 1972 and his statements in 1991, quite different from his theorem of 1951, are omitted. For the understanding of the qualities of Borda count studying of my article "On the fundamental thought behind voting rules" in 1995 would have b...

The author omits later statements by Arrow concerning irrelevant alternatives and also a statement by Riker on the same question. These statements are in contrast to the conventional meaning and importance of irrelevant alternatives in Arrow´s theorem.

Published expressions by Kenneth Arrow in 1972 and later on the condition of independence of irrelevant alternatives are not consistent with the famous Possibility Theorem. Sen, in his pessimistic view, disregards a recent analysis of the voting paradox and omits two voting and election methods which stand out.

The comments are limited to the discussion of fisheries in Iceland. The first comment concerns the question why fisheries in Iceland remained stagnant for centuries. The second comment concerns a part of the book´s conclusion (pp. 191-202) on Icelandic fishery policy in the last decades of the twentieth century.

In 2010 Iceland elected a constitutional assembly applying single transferable vote (STV). I analysed the election in a newspaper article (Election of persons—two elected). Later a periodical published by Institute of Public Administration and Politics, University of Iceland, published an analysis by Þorkell Helgason (ÞH) of the election results. I...

Icelandic authorities have since long aimed at doubling the cod catch in Icelandic waters. Should they succeed the catch will match the total catch of all fishing vessels, Icelandic and non-Icelandic, as it was before the fishing limits were extended to some degree. In spite of this the catch has remained at the same level. The Icelanders' own catc...

This is an examination of the contribution of the economics to Iceland's fishery control after most of the fishing banks came under Icelandic rule forty years ago. Prominent economic advisers in Iceland thought out ideas on how this control should be. An economic provision was referred, making an appropriate utilization of the commons, the fishing...

The ideas behind Iceland´s fishery control originate from a conference in 1962. The conference theme was how Iceland should meet the situation where the EFTA-states were expected to join soon EEC (later EU). There the idea of resource taxation arose as a means to keep the surplus from the sea by the nation in spite of membership. The idea was elabo...

Access to food is neglected in the analysis

It was argued that the participating countries had expressed varied attitudes to the message of the winning song. It is shown mathematically that the numbers for support for the songs do not give reason for any conclusion concerning varied attitudes among he participating countries to the message.

An experiment of the making of a master plan for energy resources by fund voting described. A discussion of the making of a governmental master plan for energy resources and how it could be renewed in fund voting.

The book was originally published in Norwegian (Demokrati med radvalg og fondsvalg) as a research report from Department of political science, Oslo University, 2003. Applying sequential choice on voting and election is a means of solving a classic formal logic problem, i.e. how to elect one person among more than two alternatives. The book provide...

The present volume is extracted from the author´s Democracy with sequential choice and fund voting with the purpose of making it easier for theoretically interested readers to study the contents of this book insofar as they concern Arrow´s theorem. Also included are several periodical articles by the author referred to in Democracy with sequential...

Fund voting is convenient for integrating the answers when working out what attitude to take regarding co-operation on large or small projects, or on the merger of projects, large or small, or even on the dissolution of larger entities or projects.

This article on election of persons is based on an actual state of affairs. The purpose is to highlight characteristics of the single transferable vote, which have not been dealt with in voting theory. The uninitiated needs to know the following background facts before reading on. An amendment of the Icelandic constitution is brought about in the f...

A description of an approach based on the experience gained by a fund voting project carried out in a municipality in (South Iceland. This was a general fund voting project, i.e. all those in the voters´ directory could participate.

The general public made a sequential choice of five alternatives for a road construction project.

In contrast to the situation in which animals are raised, where access to food is recognised as economically important, food availability has not been included as a parameter in economic models for fisheries management in the commons of the sea. Analogies are drawn between management of common pastureland and common fishing grounds with regard to o...

In 2004 it was decided which flower should be the National Flower of Iceland, based on a public opinion poll. The project was managed by representatives of four ministries. The voting method applied was sequential choice.

Det å anvende radvalg for avstemning og valg er et svar på et klassisk problem om en ordning for valg mellom flere enn to (formallogikk). Boka gir et svar på Colemans program om en hendig ordning i likhet med pengesystemet for å slutte politiske saker (statsvitenskap, økonomi). Arrows paradigma om gruppeavgjørelser gjennomgås (økonomi). Det blir vi...

The theme is Arrow's requirement in his theorem of 1951 on methods for group choice, that the choice be independent of irrelevant alternatives. The attention is drawn to (1) his own explanation of this requirement in 1972, which is a quite different understanding than has been discussed in the voluminous literature on the theorem, (2) that Arrow, i...

In a letter to the author Arrow makes an important recognition regarding the question of irrelevant alternatives by expressing his view that alternatives which are not among the superior ones can, in fact, affect the choice of the best alternative (it is a question of choosing the best chess player). It is clarified how alternatives become relevant...

Individual interests and collective action is volume V of the series Studies in rationality and social change published in 1966 by Cambridge University Press and Universitetsforlaget. It contains Coleman’s essays on individual interests and collective action, published over the years 1964–1983.

A problem for 200 years; Borda´s solution: Arrow´s and Black´s objections; Incompatibility between Arrow´s conditions and the economic theory of demand; Borda´s method: A meaning; The importance of alternatives not being excluded from voting for logical and managerial reasons; Can a participant profit by not declaring real preferences?; Comparison...

In fund voting each voter has votes put at his disposal. They are paid into his account (fund), an equal number for each issue to be dealt with. Each voter stakes various numbers of votes on each individual issue–many on issues he feels are important, none on those in which he has no interest. In each issue, there may be two or more alternatives. T...