On continuity of Arrovian social welfare functions

We study continuity properties of Arrovian social welfare functions in the infinite population framework. We show that continuous welfare functions satisfying unanimity and independence of irrelevant alternatives are dictatorial. Weak anonymity is shown to be incompatible with continuity and unanimi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social choice and welfare 2005-10, Vol.25 (1), p.85-93
Main Authors: Salonen, Hannu, Saukkonen, Kari
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algebra
Algebraic topology
Axioms
Dictatorship
Economics
Mathematical functions
Mathematical theorems
Preferences
Social choice
Social policy
Social welfare
Theory
Topological compactness
Topological spaces
Welfare
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Summary:We study continuity properties of Arrovian social welfare functions in the infinite population framework. We show that continuous welfare functions satisfying unanimity and independence of irrelevant alternatives are dictatorial. Weak anonymity is shown to be incompatible with continuity and unanimity: every continuous weakly anonymous social welfare function must be a constant function.
ISSN:0176-1714
1432-217X
DOI:10.1007/s00355-005-0030-x