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"The Dark Side of the Vote: Biased Voters, Social Information, and Information Aggregation Through Majority Voting" - A Talk by Rebecca Morton, New York University - Abu Dhabi
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Thursday, January 11, 2018, 10:00am - 11:30am
Lecture / Reading / Talk

The Centre for Experimental Social Sciences (CESS) Nuffield - FLAME University is pleased to welcome Rebecca Morton, Professor of Politics at NYU Abu Dhabi. Professor Morton will be presenting her work titled "The Dark Side of the Vote: Biased Voters, Social Information, and Information Aggregation Through Majority Voting."


Abstract:
We experimentally investigate information aggregation through majority voting when voters are biased. In such situations, majority voting can have a "dark side," that is, result in groups making choices inferior to those made by individuals acting alone. In line with theoretical predictions, information on the popularity of policy choices is beneficial when a minority of voters is biased, but harmful when a majority is biased. In theory, information on the success of policy choices elsewhere de-biases voters and alleviates the inefficiency. However, in the experiment, providing social information on success is ineffective and does not sufficiently de-bias voters.


Bio:
Professor Rebecca Morton's research focuses on voting processes as well as experimental methods. She is the author or co-author of four books on elections and experimental methods in political science published by W.W. Norton, University of Michigan Press, and Cambridge University Press. Professor Morton has been a Visiting Fellow at Center for the Study of Democratic Politics at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University and has organized numerous international conferences on experimental political science and and experimental social sciences winter schools. Her research work has also appeared in many noted peer-reviewed outlets such as the American Economic Review, American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Politics, and Review of Economic Studies. Professor Morton holds an MPA from Louisiana State University and a PhD in Economics from Tulane University.


For more information about Professor Morton, please visit this website.

Location : Ramanujan 001