Week 1: Voting Methods
The Voting Problem
A Quick Introduction to Voting Methods (e.g., Plurality Rule, Borda Count,
Plurality with Runoff, The Hare System, Approval Voting)
Preferences
The Condorcet Paradox
How Likely is the Condorcet Paradox?
Condorcet Consistent Voting Methods
Approval Voting
Combining Approval and Preference
Voting by Grading
Week 2: Voting Paradoxes
Choosing How to Choose
Condorcet's Other Paradox
Should the Condorcet Winner be Elected?
Failures of Monotonicity
Multiple-Districts Paradox
Spoiler Candidates and Failures of Independence
Failures of Unanimity
Optimal Decisions or Finding Compromise?
Finding a Social Ranking vs. Finding a Winner
Week 3: Characterizing Voting Methods
Classifying Voting Methods
The Social Choice Model
Anonymity, Neutrality and Unanimity
Characterizing Majority Rule
Characterizing Voting Methods
Five Characterization Results
Distance-Based Characterizations of Voting Methods
Arrow's Theorem
Proof of Arrow's Theorem
Variants of Arrow's Theorem
Week 4: Topics in Social Choice Theory
Introductory Remarks
Domain Restrictions: Single-Peakedness
Sen’s Value Restriction
Strategic Voting
Manipulating Voting Methods
Lifting Preferences
The Gibbard-Satterthwaite Theorem
Sen's Liberal Paradox
Week 5: Aggregating Judgements
Voting in Combinatorial Domains
Anscombe's Paradox
Multiple Elections Paradox
The Condorcet Jury Theorem
Paradoxes of Judgement Aggregation
The Judgement Aggregation Model
Properties of Aggregation Methods
Impossibility Results in Judgement Aggregation
Proof of the Impossibility Theorem(s)
Week 6: Fair Division
Introduction to Fair Division
Fairness Criteria
Efficient and Envy-Free Divisions
Finding an Efficient and Envy Free Division
Help the Worst Off or Avoid Envy?
The Adjusted Winner Procedure
Manipulating the Adjusted Winner Outcome
Week 7: Cake-Cutting Algorithms
The Cake Cutting Problem
Cut and Choose
Equitable and Envy-Free Proocedures
Proportional Procedures
The Stromquist Procedure
The Selfridge-Conway Procedure
Concluding Remarks