Mikhail Safronov (Cambridge)
"Precedent on the Supreme Court"
Abstract: We analyze how a bargaining protocol affects efficiency of voting in a committee. We focus on the protocol present in the US Supreme Court: a) under precedent the committee cannot change their decision; b) unbundling allows voting on different issues separately. Without unbundling, efficiency is achieved under precedent, if there exists a policy jointly preferred to no agreement. Without such a policy, there might be rushed inefficient decisions. No precedent can lead to inefficient changes in policy over time. With multiple issues, unbundling can prevent players from efficient trade across the issues. Moreover, making one player the sole proposer of policies might not improve efficiency, due to the absence of the median voter.
When: Monday 8th February 2021 - 1:00pm
Where: Zoom
Reading Group: Theory Workshop