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The Uncovered Set and the Limits of Legislative Action

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2017

William T. Bianco ,
Ivan Jeliazkov  and
Itai Sened
William T. Bianco
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Pennsylvania State University, 107 Burrowes Building, University Park, PA 16801. e-mail: wbianco@psu.edu
Ivan Jeliazkov
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA
Itai Sened
Affiliation:
Department of Political Science, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO
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Abstract

We present a simulation technique for sorting out the size, shape, and location of the uncovered set to estimate the set of enactable outcomes in “real-world” social choice situations, such as the contemporary Congress. The uncovered set is a well-known but underexploited solution concept in the literature on spatial voting games and collective choice mechanisms. We explain this solution concept in nontechnical terms, submit some theoretical observations to improve our theoretical grasp of it, and provide a simulation technique that makes it possible to estimate this set and thus enable a series of tests of its empirical relevance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Political Analysis , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , Summer 2004 , pp. 256 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Political Methodology 2004 

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