Year: 1998
Type: article
Abstract: Decision procedures aggregating the preferences of multiple agents can produce cycles and hence outcomes which have been described heuristically as ``chaotic.'' We make this description precise by constructing an explicit dynamical system from the agents' preferences and a voting rule. The dynamics form a one-dimensional statistical mechanics model; this suggests the use of the topological entropy to quantify the complexity of the system. We compute the expected complexity of a voting rule and the degree of cohesion/diversity among agents using random matrix models---ensembles of statistical mechanics models---in some representative cases.
Source: Physical Review Letters
Authors: David A. Meyer, Thad A. Brown
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2023655816