Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation

It is often suggested that when opinions differ among individuals in a group, the opinions should be aggregated to form a compromise. This paper compares two approaches to aggregating opinions, linear pooling and what I call opinion agglomeration. In evaluating both strategies, I propose a pragmatic...

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Main Author: Lee Elkin
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Michigan Publishing 2021-12-01
Series:Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy
Online Access:https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/1153/
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author Lee Elkin
author_facet Lee Elkin
author_sort Lee Elkin
collection DOAJ
description It is often suggested that when opinions differ among individuals in a group, the opinions should be aggregated to form a compromise. This paper compares two approaches to aggregating opinions, linear pooling and what I call opinion agglomeration. In evaluating both strategies, I propose a pragmatic criterion, No Regrets, entailing that an aggregation strategy should prevent groups from buying and selling bets on events at prices regretted by their members. I show that only opinion agglomeration is able to satisfy the demand. I then proceed to give normative and empirical arguments in support of the pragmatic criterion for opinion aggregation, and that ultimately favor opinion agglomeration.
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publishDate 2021-12-01
publisher Michigan Publishing
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series Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy
spelling doaj-art-ed40e3ff5a9c4a2e909c04c6bfc4b2b62025-08-20T02:48:38ZengMichigan PublishingErgo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy2330-40142021-12-018010.3998/ergo.1153Regret Averse Opinion AggregationLee Elkin0Jagiellonian University in KrakówIt is often suggested that when opinions differ among individuals in a group, the opinions should be aggregated to form a compromise. This paper compares two approaches to aggregating opinions, linear pooling and what I call opinion agglomeration. In evaluating both strategies, I propose a pragmatic criterion, No Regrets, entailing that an aggregation strategy should prevent groups from buying and selling bets on events at prices regretted by their members. I show that only opinion agglomeration is able to satisfy the demand. I then proceed to give normative and empirical arguments in support of the pragmatic criterion for opinion aggregation, and that ultimately favor opinion agglomeration.https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/1153/
spellingShingle Lee Elkin
Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
Ergo, An Open Access Journal of Philosophy
title Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
title_full Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
title_fullStr Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
title_full_unstemmed Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
title_short Regret Averse Opinion Aggregation
title_sort regret averse opinion aggregation
url https://journals.publishing.umich.edu/ergo/article/id/1153/
work_keys_str_mv AT leeelkin regretaverseopinionaggregation