Abstract
We describe a method for extracting fuzzy preferences from the Comparative Manifesto Project (CMP)Comparative Manifesto Project data that makes use of the bootstrap procedure designed by Benoit et al. (2009). We argue that fuzzy preferences are a better representation of the abstract concept of a player’s preferences in public choice models. Instead of representing preferences as precise points, our fuzzy approach maps them as bounded areas in a subset of \({\mathbb {R}}^{k}\). In so doing, we eschew the conventional assumption that political actors have precise policy positions. Instead, fuzzy preferences permit us to conceive of actor’s preferences as vague, but communicated accurately. We conclude the chapter by introducing our basic approach to using fuzzy preferences in fuzzy public choice modelsPublic choice!fuzzy model. We argue that a fuzzy public choice model satisfies some of the intuitive and practical problems faced by the conventional model. Moreover, a fuzzy public choice model allows us to shed the assumption that actors perceive shifts in utility in infinitely precise increments at the same granularity across and infinite policy space.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
State intervention and Peace and cooperation are additive dimensions established by exploratory factor analyses of theoretically similar CMP policy categories. State intervention includes the original CMP categories Regulation of capitalism (PER403), Economic planning (PER404), Protectionism: positive (PER406), Controlled economy (PER412), and Nationalization (PER413). Peace and cooperation is constructed from the categories Decolonization (PER103), Military: negative (PER105), Peace (PER106), and Internationalism: positive (PER107).
- 2.
Capitalist economics and Social conservatism are additive dimensions established by exploratory factor analyses of theoretically similar CMP policy categories. Capitalist economics includes the CMP categories Free enterprise (PER401), Incentives (PER402), Protectionism: negative (PER407), Economic orthodoxy and efficiency (PER414), and Social services expansion: negative (PER 505). Social conservatism includes the categories Constitutionalism: positive (PER203), Government effectiveness and authority (PER305), National way of life: positive (PER601), Traditional morality: positive (PER603), Law and order (PER 605), and National effort, social harmony (PER606).
- 3.
- 4.
BLM only consider cases without the extended categories add in the second-generation CMP data (Klingemann et al. 2006) and do not consider cases in which 99.99 % of quasi-sentences are uncoded (Sweden from 1948 to 1982 and all Norway).
- 5.
Under conditions of perfect symmetry in two dimensional space, called the Plott conditions, the maximal set is nonempty (Austen-Smith and Banks 1999, pp. 142–149).
References
Arrow, K.: Social Choice and Individual Values. Wiley, New York (1951)
Austen-Smith, D., Banks, J.: Positive Political Theory I. The University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor (1999)
Benoit, K., Laver, M., Mikhalov, S.: Treating words as data with error: Estimating uncertainty in the comparative manifesto measures. Am. J. Polit. Sci. 53(2), 49–513 (2009)
Black, D.: The Theory of Committees and Elections. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (1958)
Budge, I., Klingemann, H.D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Tannenbaum, E. (eds.): Mapping Policy Preferences: Estimates for Parties, Elections, and Governments: 1945–1998. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2001)
Klingemann, H.D., Volkens, A., Bara, J., Budge, I., McDonald, M.: Mapping Policy Prefences II: Estimates for Parties, Electors, and Governments in Eastern Europe, European Union, and OECD 1990–2003. Oxford University Press, Oxford (2006)
Laver, M.: How should we estimate the policy positions of political actors. In: Estimating the Policy Position of Political Actors. Routledge, London (2001)
Laver, M., Budge, I. (eds.): Party Policy and Goverment Coalitions. MacMillan Press, London (1992)
Mikhaylov, S., Laver, M., Benoit, K.: Coder reliability and misclassification in the human coding of party manifestos. Polit. Anal. 20(1), 78–91 (2012)
Poole, K.: Spatial Model of Parliamentary Voting. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2005)
Poole, K., Rosenthal, H.: Ideology and Congress. Transaction Publishers, New Brunswick, NJ (2007)
Potter, J.: Extracting fuzzy preferences from empirical data (2007), unpublished thesis
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Casey, P.C. et al. (2014). Fuzzy Preferences: Extraction from Data and Their Use in Public Choice Models. In: Fuzzy Social Choice Models. Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, vol 318. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08248-6_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08248-6_2
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-08247-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-08248-6
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)