A method for identifying parameterizations of the Compensation election and Quadratic voting that admit pure-strategy equilibria

Abstract

The recent birth and proliferation of online digital community platforms have led to an increased interest in more efficient voting mechanisms than simple yes–no majority voting. Quadratic voting and the Compensation election have shown some promise in the laboratory, however some gaps still remain in our understanding of the strategic features of these mechanisms. Using proof by example and the properties of infinitely divisible distributions, we develop a procedure for generating parameterizations of these voting mechanisms that admit Pure Strategy Bayes–Nash equilibria (PSBNE). We illustrate the equilibrium bid (or voting) functions graphically and derive their linear approximations.