Econnect # 6

How Should We Elect Our Leaders

Their group presented the article “How Should We Elect Our Leaders?” by Eric S.
Maskin. This article would tell us which voting method is the best or the most efficient. Electing
our leaders for our country is really important because they are the ones who would decide for
the country’s sake and our future is dependent on them. We should use our votes wisely by
voting for the person who we personally think that he or she deserves to be the leader of our
country.

Their group introduced to us the two kinds of voting methods, which are the majority rule
and the rank order voting. The majority rule basically means that if the candidate has the
majority votes, usually more than 50% of the total votes, the candidate would be declared as the
winner. On the other hand, rank voting is a voting system wherein voters rank their candidates
1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. based on their own opinion. This voting system uses different kinds of
counting methods to determine the winner.

Arrow Impossibility Theorem was also discussed by their group. This theorem is a proof
that there is no perfect voting system. According to their group, people usually will more likely
vote for candidates who have the same class with them, so it could represent their own class.
Because of this concept, Maskin and Dasgupta made a theorem, which is called the Reasonable
Election Method. This theorem means that an election method is reasonable if it conforms to the
5 principles, which are consensus, equal voters, equal candidates, no spoilers, and decisiveness.

Their group concluded that the majority rule is the best or more accurate voting method
to use during the election compared to other voting methods. It is because it satisfies 4 out of 5
principles, which are majority rule, equal voters principle, equal candidates principle, and no
spoilers principle.