Arrow's Work and the Normative Theory of Committees

Abstract

The circumstances of the author's discovery of the median voter theorem and the steps which led from there to his Theory of Committees and Elections are set out. His theory is presented in the form of the `statistical thesis' that the best choice procedure selects the option which `on average' is highest on the committee members' schedules. As there is more than one concept of average, so there is more than one acceptable committee procedure. The author's way of proceeding is compared and contrasted with Arrow's.