Social choice theory

Study of rational collective decision-making

Social choice theory is a branch of welfare economics that seeks to extend the theory of rational choice to collective decision-making. Social choice studies the behavior of different mathematical procedures (social welfare functions) used to combine individual preferences into a coherent whole. It contrasts with political science in that social choice theory is a normative field that studies how a society can make good decisions, whereas political science is a descriptive field that observes how societies actually do make decisions.

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