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Book SynopsisKenneth J. Arrow's "impossibility theorem" was a watershed in welfare economics, voting theory, and collective choice. This book explores the implications of Arrow's theorem. Amartya Sen considers its value and limitations in relation to social reasoning, and Eric Maskin discusses how to design a voting rule that gets us closer to the ideal.
Trade ReviewWithout hyperbole, no postwar intellectual of the first rank has done more good for more people-above all, many of the world's poorest-than Amartya Sen. -- Boyd Tonkin The Independent What is Arrow's impossibility theorem? Why is it true? What are its implications for democratic decision making? Is its nihilism justified? These are the kinds of questions addressed in Maskin and Sen's masterful Arrow lectures. These lectures and the accompanying essays provide an accessible introduction to Kenneth J. Arrow's theorem for the neophyte and much food for thought for the cognoscente. -- John A. Weymark, Vanderbilt University How vital it is to understand the ideas behind Kenneth J. Arrow's impossibility theorem if we want to design reasonably fair ways of coming to consensus decisions that take equitable account of individual preferences. This book is a marvelous introduction to the theorem, a keystone in the theory of social choice. We are treated to a discussion of that theory-its origin, background, and the challenges it points to-by some of its great architects. -- Barry Mazur, Harvard University, author of Imagining Numbers The pioneers of social choice theory give us lively, enjoyable, and stimulating lectures and exchanges of ideas. Their views, more than sixty years after the publication of Kenneth J. Arrow's theorem, are of paramount interest to anyone aware of the difficulties of collective decisions. -- Marc Fleurbaey, Princeton University
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction, by Prasanta K. Pattanaik Part 1: The Lectures Opening Remarks, by Joseph E. Stiglitz Arrow and the Impossibility Theorem, by Amartya Sen The Arrow Impossibility Theorem: Where Do We Go From Here?, by Eric Maskin Commentary, by Kenneth J. Arrow Part II: Supplemental Materials The Informational Basis of Social Choice, by Amartya Sen On The Robustness of Majority Rule, by Partha Dasgupta and Eric Maskin The Origins of the Impossibility Theorem, by Kenneth J. Arrow Notes on Contributors
