On a continuous majority rule

Abstract

A seminal paper by May characterizes the majority rule in terms of anonymity, neutrality, and positive responsiveness. Since then, there have been many characterizations of the majority rule using different axioms by several authors. In this paper, we will introduce the concept of a continuous majority rule which generalizes the previous social welfare functions beyond the discrete values, and using new axioms, we will give a characterization of the continuous majority rule.