You currently have no access to view or download this content. Please log in with your institutional or personal account if you should have access to this content through either of these.
Showing a limited preview of this publication:
Abstract
What impact do majority rule and unanimity rule have on welfare and decision costs? According to Buchanan and Tullock ([1962] 1999) the unanimity principle must be regarded as a democratic norm, because it guarantees Pareto-efficient welfare effects. We present experimental results from a public goods game, which demonstrate in contrast to this assumption that majority rule can produce greater welfare effects than unanimity rule. This result suggests a critical revision of theoretical approaches which narrow the legitimacy of majority rule in this respect.
Published Online: 2012-9-10
©2012 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston