Question

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Could someone please give examples of the below? Thanks!

Question: What factors/circumstances/conditions could prevent the world from operating as described in the Median Voter Theorem?

Answer 1

A median voter theorem in the domain of choice economics states that in a majority rule voting system in a government, the outcome is most likely to be what the median voter has preferred. In public choice Economics, this is one of the infamous theories leading to a lot of other linked studies.

For a world to operate as stated in the median voter theorem, there are certain assumptions which needs to be satisfied. Even if just one of the assumptions doesn't concede with, then we can say that factor prevents the world from operating as per the median voter theorem. Let's see some of the assumptions which hold true for the median voter theorem.

• First and foremost assumption, the candidates can place all the alternatives on a unidimensional political spectrum. In other words, a voting takes place for one issue at a time.
• Second most important assumption is that the voters' preferences are single peaked. That is, each voter favors one alternative more than any other. The voters need to vote for this in the first place!
• Third important assumption which almost eliminates the possibility of applying this in practice is that the voter chooses between just two alternatives. Yes, this is assumed to hold the theorem valid. In the case of more than 2 choices and the median voter chooses the least favorable alternative, the median voter theorem fails.
• Fourth important assumption is that there ain't no influence made on the voter to choose an alternative. This very assumption does not set the real world scenario. Ideological voters are replete in the world.
• Fifth important assumption is that there are no voter discrimination or in short every voter gets his/her chance to vote. Well so far this is the only one which closely resembles the real world scenario

These are some of the key assumptions for the median voter theorem to hold true. If any one doesn't satisfy we can conclude that we can't apply the theorem to apply in the current world.

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