ABSTRACT

We study pre-vote interactions in a committee that enacts a welfare-improving reform through voting. Committee members use decentralized promises contingent on the reform enactment to influence the vote outcome. Equilibrium promises prevent beneficial coalitional deviations and minimize total promises. We show that multiple equilibria exist, involving promises from high- to low-intensity members to enact the reform. Promises dissuade reform opponents from enticing the least enthusiastic reform supporters to vote against the reform. We shall characterize the set of all equilibria in different cases. The talk is based on a joint work with Ali Lazrak.