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Monotonicity irrelevance criterion

KM
Kristofer Munsterhjelm
Sat, Mar 20, 2021 6:30 PM

Suppose that, in some election, a method places A ahead of B and C, and
that A beats B pairwise but is beaten by C p.w.

What types of election methods have the property that raising A does not
change the relative order of B and C? I.e. that if the outcome is
A>...>B>...>C>..., then raising A can never change it into A>...>C>...>B>...

Clearly, LIIA implies this criterion, but it seems otherwise quite strong.

(I don't think minmax passes - because raising A past B on some ballot
could change the magnitude of A>B on so that C advances past B.)

-km

Suppose that, in some election, a method places A ahead of B and C, and that A beats B pairwise but is beaten by C p.w. What types of election methods have the property that raising A does not change the relative order of B and C? I.e. that if the outcome is A>...>B>...>C>..., then raising A can never change it into A>...>C>...>B>... Clearly, LIIA implies this criterion, but it seems otherwise quite strong. (I don't think minmax passes - because raising A past B on some ballot could change the magnitude of A>B on so that C advances past B.) -km
KM
Kristofer Munsterhjelm
Sat, Mar 20, 2021 9:30 PM

On 20/03/2021 19.30, Kristofer Munsterhjelm wrote:

Suppose that, in some election, a method places A ahead of B and C, and
that A beats B pairwise but is beaten by C p.w.

What types of election methods have the property that raising A does not
change the relative order of B and C? I.e. that if the outcome is
A>...>B>...>C>..., then raising A can never change it into A>...>C>...>B>...

Clearly, LIIA implies this criterion ...

Maybe I shouldn't be so quick. Here's the proof I had in mind:

Suppose that the ranking is ...>X>A>{...>B>...>C>...} and the method
passes LIIA. If we raise A so that the outcome changes to
...>A>X>[...>B>...>C>...], then after eliminating every candidate in the
social ordering down to X (after raising) or down to A (before raising),
the election must be the same regardless of whether A was raised or not.

By LIIA, since we've eliminated everybody down to and including X, the
outcome of this reduced election must be {...>B>...>C>...}. Similarly,
because we before the raising eliminated everybody down to and including
A, the outcome of the reduced election must be [...>B>...>C>...]. So the
two post-A orderings are the same, because the election is the same. In
particular, B must beat C in the social ordering both before and after A
is raised, given that both were ranked after A to begin with.

The problem with this proof is that LIIA doesn't preclude that the
before-raising ordering is something like Z>X>A>B>Y, and that it
afterwards turns into Y>A>X>B>Z. In that case, the reduction fails and
so does the proof.

-km

On 20/03/2021 19.30, Kristofer Munsterhjelm wrote: > Suppose that, in some election, a method places A ahead of B and C, and > that A beats B pairwise but is beaten by C p.w. > > What types of election methods have the property that raising A does not > change the relative order of B and C? I.e. that if the outcome is > A>...>B>...>C>..., then raising A can never change it into A>...>C>...>B>... > > Clearly, LIIA implies this criterion ... Maybe I shouldn't be so quick. Here's the proof I had in mind: Suppose that the ranking is ...>X>A>{...>B>...>C>...} and the method passes LIIA. If we raise A so that the outcome changes to ...>A>X>[...>B>...>C>...], then after eliminating every candidate in the social ordering down to X (after raising) or down to A (before raising), the election must be the same regardless of whether A was raised or not. By LIIA, since we've eliminated everybody down to and including X, the outcome of this reduced election must be {...>B>...>C>...}. Similarly, because we before the raising eliminated everybody down to and including A, the outcome of the reduced election must be [...>B>...>C>...]. So the two post-A orderings are the same, because the election is the same. In particular, B must beat C in the social ordering both before and after A is raised, given that both were ranked after A to begin with. The problem with this proof is that LIIA doesn't preclude that the before-raising ordering is something like Z>X>A>B>Y, and that it afterwards turns into Y>A>X>B>Z. In that case, the reduction fails and so does the proof. -km