Representation and aggregation of crisp and fuzzy ordered structures: applications to social choice

Abstract

The present memory is structured as follows: after the Introduction, in the Chapter 2 of preliminaries, we will pay attention to the three areas which sustain the development of this thesis. These are, binary relations, Social Choice and Fuzzy sets. Chapter 3 is devoted to the study of fuzzy Arrovian models. First, it is introduced the concept of a fuzzy preference. Next, we define fuzzy aggregation rules and all of the restrictions of common sense, which are inspired by the restrictions that come from the classic Arrovian model. Next, different models are defined in the fuzzy setting. Their definitions depend on the particular nuances and features of a preference (choosing a transitivity type and a connectedness type) and the restrictions on an aggregation function (choosing an independence of irrelevant alternatives property,an unanimity property, etc). Different possibility and impossibility theorems have been proved depending on the set of definition and restrictions. In Chapter 4 it is studied the problem of the decomposition of fuzzy binary relations. There, it is defined clearly the problem of setting suitable decomposition rules. That is, we analyze how to obtain a strict preference and an indifference from the weak preference in a fuzzy approach. In this chapter, the existence and the uniqueness of certain kind of decomposition rules associated to fuzzy unions are characterized. In Chapter 5, the decomposition rules studied in Chapter 4 are used to achieve a new impossibility result. It is important to point out that in the proof of the main result in this chapter it is introduced a new technique. In this proof, fuzzy preferences are framed through an auxiliary tuple of five crisp binary relations, that we name a pseudofuzzy preference. An aggregation model a la Arrow of pseudofuzzy preferences is also studied,but the main result is about the aggregation of fuzzy preferences that come from decompositions.Chapters 3, 4 and 5 constitute the main body of this memory. Then a section of conclusions is included. It contains suggestions for further studies, open problems and several final comments. Finally, an Appendix has been added in order to give an account of the work done within these three years, that can not be included in the body of the present memory.