The use of domain knowledge in optimal information aggregation

In this thesis, I present some novel results pertaining to the relationship between two popular and interesting information aggregation methods: the Condorcet and Borda tallies. I present numerical results showing how the much simpler Borda tally can be used to approximate the outcome of the Condorcet tally with high probability in certain circumstances, a proof that there exist classes of problems for which the two tallies can never agree, and an extension of these results to small-world graphs, which have been of great interest recently due to their practical applicability to many complex problems.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Pickard, Galen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Whitman Richards.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37080

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37080