Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study

HIAS-E-61

A Note on th Possible Advantage of Size Flexibility in Committees

Abstract:

This note analyzes the possible advantage of size flexibility in decision-making bodies facing an uncertain dichotomous choice. We find that under constant size variability, application of the unanimity rule might be more desirable than the simple majority rule, yielding higher average performance. In contrast, and as is well known, the latter rule is always the superior one, given a fixed number of decision makers with identical decisional competence.

Report No.: HIAS-E-61
Author(s): Ruth Ben-Yahar(a)
Shmuel Nitzan(a), (b)
Affiliation: (a) Department of Economics, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan 52900, Israel
(b) Hitotsubashi Institute for Advanced Study, Hitotsubashi University
Issued Date: December 2017
Keywords: obligatory or flexible committee size, unanimity rule, simple majority rule
JEL: D7
Links: PDF, HERMES-IR, RePEc