scholarly journals Information Aggregation with Delegation of Votes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrita Dhillon ◽  
Grammateia Kotsialou ◽  
Dimitris Xefteris

Recent developments in blockchain technology have made possible greater progress on secure electronic voting, opening the way to better ways of democratic decision making. In this paper we formalise the features of ``liquid democracy'' which allows voters to delegate their votes to other voters, and we explore whether it improves information aggregation as compared to direct voting. We consider a two-alternative setup with truth-seeking voters (informed and uninformed) and partisan ones (leftists and rightists), and we show that delegation improves information aggregation in finite elections. We also propose a mechanism that further improves the information aggregation properties of delegation in private information settings, by guaranteeing that all vote transfers are from uninformed to informed truth-seeking voters. Delegation offers effective ways for truth-seeking uninformed voters to boost the vote-share of the alternative that matches the state of the world in all considered setups and hence deserves policy makers' attention.

Author(s):  
Geetanjali Rathee ◽  
Hemraj Saini

India is the largest democracy in the world, and in spite of that, it faces various challenges on a daily basis that hinder its growth like corruption and human rights violations. One of the ugliest phases of corruption and political mayhem is visible during the election process where no stone is kept unturned in order to gain power. However, it is the common citizen who suffers most in terms of clarity as well as security when it comes to his/her vote. Blockchain can play a very important role in ensuring that the voters registering their votes are legit and the counting of votes is not manipulated in any way. It is also needed in today's times where the world is available to people in their smart phones to also give them the opportunity to register their votes hassle free via their smart phones without having to worry about the system getting hacked. Therefore, in this chapter, the proposed layout will be based on a smart contract, using Ethereum software to create an e-voting app. In this chapter, the authors have proposed a secure e-voting framework through blockchain mechanism.


1994 ◽  

Aviation and tourism have long been seen as interdependent segments of one single industry. Increasingly, the World Tourism Organization and its member governments recognise that developments in aviation will significantly affect the nature and growth of tourism. Aviation and Tourism Policies makes an important contribution to the growing worldwide debate on aviation and tourism policy issues. This publication reviews recent developments in aviation, such as changes in air transport regulation, and examines the rationale behind the various controls imposed on air services and the reasons for the current radical transformation of the industry throughout the world. A review of past and present policies pursued in a representative group of countries helps illustrate the difficulties many governments have in balancing the interests of their national airlines and the optimum development of their tourism industries. In addition, a number of simple models designed to assist countries in evaluating effective policy directions are presented. Aviation and Tourism Policies offers an effective methodology for the measurement and comparison of the costs and benefits of policy options, and will become a vital guide to the dynamics between aviation and tourism in the modern context. It will be of importance for students of tourism management and policy-makers alike.


2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (01) ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan G. Mason

ABSTRACTScience is believed to be an important part of public policy decision making because of its inherent characteristics of measurability, rigor, objectivity, replication, and peer review. The purpose of this research was to explore the linkage of science to public policy decision making. The research explores what state and local public officials know about science and how much they actually use science in their decision making. Interview results with public officials in the State of Idaho demonstrate that policy makers ultimately see science as only one element in the mix. Findings suggest that equal attention and debate should be given to how science interacts with all of the other factors that affect the public policy making process.


Econometrica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 2281-2328 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mira Frick ◽  
Ryota Iijima ◽  
Yuhta Ishii

We exhibit a natural environment, social learning among heterogeneous agents, where even slight misperceptions can have a large negative impact on long‐run learning outcomes. We consider a population of agents who obtain information about the state of the world both from initial private signals and by observing a random sample of other agents' actions over time, where agents' actions depend not only on their beliefs about the state but also on their idiosyncratic types (e.g., tastes or risk attitudes). When agents are correct about the type distribution in the population, they learn the true state in the long run. By contrast, we show, first, that even arbitrarily small amounts of misperception about the type distribution can generate extreme breakdowns of information aggregation, where in the long run all agents incorrectly assign probability 1 to some fixed state of the world, regardless of the true underlying state. Second, any misperception of the type distribution leads long‐run beliefs and behavior to vary only coarsely with the state, and we provide systematic predictions for how the nature of misperception shapes these coarse long‐run outcomes. Third, we show that how fragile information aggregation is against misperception depends on the richness of agents' payoff‐relevant uncertainty; a design implication is that information aggregation can be improved by simplifying agents' learning environment. The key feature behind our findings is that agents' belief‐updating becomes “decoupled” from the true state over time. We point to other environments where this feature is present and leads to similar fragility results.


Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cappai ◽  
Forgues ◽  
Glaus

In recent decades, municipalities around the world have been developing community policies and seeking to apply them in their cities. They use methods for exchanging information and opinions on decisions, policies, plans and strategies and involve and consult with the community and stakeholders in all aspects of the decision-making process. The application of methods for thoughtful planning has become the goal of policy makers to improve the lives of citizens and stop the expansion of the city into the countryside. The aim of this article is to integrate the notion of sustainability into a methodological approach, taking into account the actors involved in the decision-making phases, the objectives, and the local indicators in an urban redevelopment project (brownfield). Our approach is based on an analysis of 21 articles and on a transversal and cross-cutting view of the interdisciplinary themes of sustainable development by inserting the main actors into decision-making in urban projects and by selecting local indicators. We put in place a methodological approach for the evaluation of urban projects that takes into account local expectations. The goal is to identify and classify the elements that are needed for decision making, including the indicators related to environmental and socio-economic components, in order to develop an effective evaluation tool. This research contributes to the knowledge of project evaluation tools in the specific context of a city.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (6) ◽  
pp. 715-733
Author(s):  
Mohammad Hashemi Joo ◽  
Yuka Nishikawa ◽  
Krishnan Dandapani

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to identify the applications and contributions of blockchain technology in finance in general, and to identify areas where the technology can make a larger impact in payment systems. Design/methodology/approach The authors do an exhaustive review of blockchain technology and cryptocurrency, and examine the successful applications of blockchain technology in several finance disciplines including cryptocurrency. The authors critically evaluate the technical studies on behaviors in cryptocurrency prices. Findings Cryptocurrency is the first successful application of blockchain technology and can be used as the main fuel of the global money transfer network. Research limitations/implications Blockchain is a revolutionary technology that can change the world with its convenience, transparency, accuracy and efficiency in speed and cost. The growth of blockchain usage in finance depends on further familiarization and trust gained by an increasing number of proven successful usage cases and testimonials as well as appropriate legislative changes. Originality/value This paper provides a comprehensive review of the contributions that blockchain technology has made and is expected to make in the field of finance with the aim of adding value to corporate executives, investors, policy makers and a general audience.


Author(s):  
Erik Melander

This chapter lays out the measure of peace developed by Erik Melander. As he sees it, peace concerns the conduct of politics with respect for physical integrity rights, using consensual decision making, on the basis of strong equality values. He draws on the work of Carl von Clausewitz for his insights, following Clausewitz’s trinity of dimensions of war but finding parallels in an evaluation of quality peace. To measure the concept, he employs the three dimensions to develop a map of quality peace in countries in the period from 1981 to 2008. Using data from a variety of sources, including CIRI data, his mapping leads to seven insights into the state of quality peace over the long term and around the world. The chapter concludes with discussion of further implications and considerations of the mappings’ limitations, encouraging further study.


First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shekhar Shukla

The unfortunate arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic has also brought along with it a tsunami of information that can be both authentic and important as well as non-reliable and misguiding. The World Health Organization (WHO) coins this outburst of information in this era of pandemic as an infodemic. It becomes essential for societies to consume and act on trusted information in these times of uncertainty and grief. In this article, we describe and assess the role of blockchain technology and its features to establish an environment of a trusted information ecosystem. We present an equivalence mapping of these important parameters to curb an infodemic with blockchain technology features and applications. This equivalence mapping provides a directional sense to stakeholders, decision-makers, policy-makers and investors to gauge and synthesize the potential of blockchain technology for tackling an infodemic.


2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 241
Author(s):  
Zakiyuddin Baedhawy

Poverty and impoverishment in the world currently continue to increase as aresult of distributive justice systems and its principles that became the basis ofcontemporary economics did not succeed in allocating and distributing resourcesjustly. Based on this problem, this study aimed at describing the Islamic responseto the problem of distributive injustice, and how necessarily the state played arole in upholding distributive justice. Through the thematic-induction method andthe synthetic analysis, the study finds out several findings as follows. Firstly,Islam formulated three principles of distributive justice as follows: 1) the Distributionof natural and the environmental resources was in the framework of participation;2) the Redistribution of the wealth and the income were joint responsibilityof ascertaining social security, the increase in the capacity and the authorityfor them who were disadvantage; and 3) the Role of the state was certaintythat was complementary for the ethical market in order to guarantees the senseof justice and the achievement of public welfare. Secondly, according to Islam,the process of the redistribution of the wealth and the income aimed at givingsocial security on the fulfillment of basic needs for the poor; strove for the increasein the capacity through education and skills; and increased the poor’sbargaining position through their participation in decision making that was linkedwith their interests and the control on its implementation. Thirdly, the intention of establishing justice was to gain both individual and public welfare and the happiness(al-fala>h}).Kemiskinan dan pemiskinan di dunia kontemporer terus meningkat sebagai akibatsistem keadilan distributif dan prinsip-prinsipnya yang menjadi basis ekonomisaat ini tidak berhasil dalam mengalokasikan dan memeratakan sumber dayasecara adil. Berdasarkan masalah ini, kajian ini bertujuan untuk menjelaskanrespon Islam atas problem ketidakadilan distributif, dan bagaimana seharusnyanegara ambil peranan dalam menegakkan keadilan distributif. Melalui metodeinduksi-tematik dan analisis sintetik, kajian ini menemukan beberapa hal pentingantara lain. Pertama, Islam telah merumuskan tiga prinsip keadilan distributifsebagai berikut: 1) pemerataan sumber daya alam dan lingkungan dalamkerangka partisipasi; 2) redistribusi kekayaan dan pendapatan dalam rangkamemastikan keamanan sosial, dan meningkatkan kapasitas dan otoritas bagimereka yang kurang/tidak beruntung; dan 3) peran negara merupakan pelengkapbagi pasar yang etis dengan maksud untuk menjamin rasa keadilan dantercapainya kesejahteraan publik. Kedua, menurut Islam, proses redistribusikekayaan dan pendapatan bertujuan untuk memberikan jaminan sosial bagipemenuhan kebutuhan orang miskin; untuk meningkatkan kapasitas merekamelalui pendidikan dan pelatihan; dan meningkatkan posisi tawar kaum miskinmelalui partisipasi dalam pengambilan keputusan yang berkaitan langsung dengankepentingan mereka, serta kendali atas pelaksanaan keputusan tersebut. Ketiga,maksud penegakkan keadilan ialah untuk mewujudkan kesejahteraan sekaliguskebahagiaan individu dan publik.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Tewari

Intent of this research is to explore how a specific class of mathematical models namely Susceptible-Infected-Removed model can be utilized to forecast peak outbreak timelines of COVID-19 epidemic amongst a population of interest starting from the date of first reported case. Till the time of this research, there was no effective and universally accepted vaccine to control transmission and spread of this infection. COVID-19 primarily spreads in population through respiratory droplets from an infected person cough and sneeze which infects people who are in proximity. COVID-19 is spreading contagiously across the world. If health policy makers and medical experts could get early and timely insights into when peak infection rate would occur after first reported case, they could plan and optimize medical personnel, ventilators supply, and other medical resources without over-taxing the infrastructure. The predictions may also help policymakers devise strategies to control the epidemic, potentially saving many lives. Thus, it can aid in critical decision-making process by providing actionable insights into COVID-19 outbreak by leveraging available data.


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