Searcharxiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

Arkadii Slinko

Publications and source records attributed to Arkadii Slinko.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2026

How Similar Are Two Elections?

We introduce and study isomorphic distances between ordinal elections (with the same numbers of candidates and voters). The main feature of these distances is that they are invariant to renaming the candidates and voters, and two elections are at distance zero if and only if they are isomorphic. Specifically, we consider isomorphic extensions of distances between preference orders: Given such a distance d, we extend it to distance d-ID between elections by unifying candidate names and finding a matching between the votes, so that the sum of the d-distances between the matched votes is as small as possible. We show that testing isomorphism of two elections can be done in polynomial time so, in principle, such distances can be tractable. Yet, we show that two very natural isomorphic distances are NP-complete and hard to approximate. We attempt to rectify the situation by showing FPT algorithms for several natural parameterizations.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2025

Drawing a Map of Elections

Our main contribution is the introduction of the map of elections framework. A map of elections consists of three main elements: (1) a dataset of elections (i.e., collections of ordinal votes over given sets of candidates), (2) a way of measuring similarities between these elections, and (3) a representation of the elections in the 2D Euclidean space as points, so that the more similar two elections are, the closer are their points. In our maps, we mostly focus on datasets of synthetic elections, but we also show an example of a map over real-life ones. To measure similarities, we would have preferred to use, e.g., the isomorphic swap distance, but this is infeasible due to its high computational complexity. Hence, we propose polynomial-time computable positionwise distance and use it instead. Regarding the representations in 2D Euclidean space, we mostly use the Kamada-Kawai algorithm, but we also show two alternatives. We develop the necessary theoretical results to form our maps and argue experimentally that they are accurate and credible. Further, we show how coloring the elections in a map according to various criteria helps in analyzing results of a number of experiments. In particular, we show colorings according to the scores of winning candidates or committees, running times of ILP-based winner determination algorithms, and approximation ratios achieved by particular algorithms.

cs.MA↗
arXiv2024

A composition of Condorcet domains

Inspecting known maximal Condorcet domains on 4 variables classified by Tobias Dittrich we find that 9 out of 18 of them are created using a certain composition of smaller domains. In this paper we describe this composition. We give sufficient conditions for the composition of two Condorcet domain to be a maximal Condorcet domain.

math.CO↗
arXiv2024

A combinatorial representation of Arrow's single-peaked domains

The most studied class of Condorcet domains (acyclic sets of linear orders) is the class of peak-pit domains of maximal width. It has a number of combinatorial representations by such familiar combinatorial objects like rhombus tilings and arrangements of pseudolines. Arrow's single-peaked domains are peak-pit but do not have maximal width. We suggest how to represent them by means of generalised arrangements of pseudolines.

math.CO↗
arXiv2023

A family of Condorcet domains that are single-peaked on a circle

Fishburn's alternating scheme domains occupy a special place in the theory of Condorcet domains. Karpov (2023) generalised these domains and made an interesting observation proving that all of them are single-picked on a circle. However, an important point that all generalised Fishburn domains are maximal Condorcet domain remained unproved. We fill this gap and suggest a new combinatorial interpretation of generalised Fishburn's domains which provide a constructive proof of single-peakedness of these domains on a circle. We show that classical single-peaked domains and single-dipped domains as well as Fishburn's alternating scheme domains belong to this family of domains while single-crossing domains do not.

math.CO↗
arXiv2022

How to Sample Approval Elections?

We study the multifaceted question of how to sample approval elections in a meaningful way. Our analysis aims to discern the properties of various statistical cultures (both established and new ones). Based on the map-of-elections framework by Szufa et al. [2020], we graphically represent statistical cultures; and, by that, provide an intuitive understanding of their differences and properties.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2020

Participatory Budgeting with Cumulative Votes

In participatory budgeting we are given a set of projects---each with a cost, an available budget, and a set of voters who in some form express their preferences over the projects. The goal is to select---based on voter preferences---a subset of projects whose total cost does not exceed the budget. We propose several aggregation methods based on the idea of cumulative votes, e.g., for the setting when each voter is given one coin and she specifies how this coin should be split among the projects. We compare our aggregation methods based on (1) axiomatic properties, and (2) computer simulations. We identify one method, Minimal Transfers over Costs, that demonstrates particularly desirable behavior. In particular, it significantly improves on existing methods, satisfies a strong notion of proportionality, and, thus, is promising to be used in practice.

cs.MA↗
arXiv2020

Generalisation of the Danilov-Karzanov-Koshevoy Construction for Peak-Pit Condorcet Domains

Danilov, Karzanov and Koshevoy (2012) geometrically introduced an interesting operation of composition on tiling Condorcet domains and using it they disproved a long-standing problem of Fishburn about the maximal size of connected Condorcet domains. We give an algebraic definition of this operation and investigate its properties. We give a precise formula for the cardinality of composition of two Condorcet domains and improve the Danilov, Karzanov and Koshevoy result showing that Fishburn's alternating scheme does not always define a largest peak-pit Condorcet domain.

math.CO↗
arXiv2019

Realistic versus Rational Secret Sharing

The study of Rational Secret Sharing initiated by Halpern and Teague regards the reconstruction of the secret in secret sharing as a game. It was shown that participants (parties) may refuse to reveal their shares and so the reconstruction may fail. Moreover, a refusal to reveal the share may be a dominant strategy of a party. In this paper we consider secret sharing as a sub-action or subgame of a larger action/game where the secret opens a possibility of consumption of a certain common good. We claim that utilities of participants will be dependent on the nature of this common good. In particular, Halpern and Teague scenario corresponds to a rivalrous and excludable common good. We consider the case when this common good is non-rivalrous and non-excludable and find many natural Nash equilibria. We list several applications of secret sharing to demonstrate our claim and give corresponding scenarios. In such circumstances the secret sharing scheme facilitates a power sharing agreement in the society. We also state that non-reconstruction may be beneficial for this society and give several examples.

cs.CR↗
arXiv2019

What Do Multiwinner Voting Rules Do? An Experiment Over the Two-Dimensional Euclidean Domain

We visualize aggregate outputs of popular multiwinner voting rules--SNTV, STV, Bloc, k-Borda, Monroe, Chamberlin--Courant, and HarmonicBorda--for elections generated according to the two-dimensional Euclidean model. We consider three applications of multiwinner voting, namely, parliamentary elections, portfolio/movie selection, and shortlisting, and use our results to understand which of our rules seem to be best suited for each application. In particular, we show that STV (one of the few nontrivial rules used in real high-stake elections) exhibits excellent performance, whereas the Bloc rule (also often used in practice) performs poorly.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2018

Absolute Primes

This is a survey article outlining what is known about absolute primes.

math.NT↗
arXiv2018

Committee Scoring Rules: Axiomatic Characterization and Hierarchy

Committee scoring voting rules are multiwinner analogues of positional scoring rules which constitute an important subclass of single-winner voting rules. We identify several natural subclasses of committee scoring rules, namely, weakly separable, representation-focused, top-$k$-counting, OWA-based, and decomposable rules. We characterize SNTV, Bloc, and $k$-Approval Chamberlin--Courant as the only nontrivial rules in pairwise intersections of these classes. We provide some axiomatic characterizations for these classes, where monotonicity properties appear to be especially useful. The class of decomposable rules is new to the literature. We show that it strictly contains the class of OWA-based rules and describe some of the applications of decomposable rules.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2017

The Complexity of Multiwinner Voting Rules with Variable Number of Winners

We consider the approval-based model of elections, and undertake a computational study of voting rules which select committees whose size is not predetermined. While voting rules that output committees with a predetermined number of winning candidates are quite well studied, the study of elections with variable number of winners has only recently been initiated by Kilgour. This paper aims at achieving a better understanding of these rules, their computational complexity, and on scenarios for which they might be applicable.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2017

Cognitive Hierarchy and Voting Manipulation

By the Gibbard--Satterthwaite theorem, every reasonable voting rule for three or more alternatives is susceptible to manipulation: there exist elections where one or more voters can change the election outcome in their favour by unilaterally modifying their vote. When a given election admits several such voters, strategic voting becomes a game among potential manipulators: a manipulative vote that leads to a better outcome when other voters are truthful may lead to disastrous results when other voters choose to manipulate as well. We consider this situation from the perspective of a boundedly rational voter, and use the cognitive hierarchy framework to identify good strategies. We then investigate the associated algorithmic questions under the k-approval voting rule. We obtain positive algorithmic results for k=1 and 2, and NP- and coNP-hardness results for k>3.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2017

Gibbard-Satterthwaite Games for k-Approval Voting Rules

The Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem implies the existence of voters, called manipulators, who can change the election outcome in their favour by voting strategically. When a given preference profile admits several such manipulators, voting becomes a game played by these voters, who have to reason strategically about each others' actions. To complicate the game even further, counter-manipulators may then try to counteract the actions of manipulators. Our voters are boundedly rational and do not think beyond manipulating or countermanipulating. We call these games Gibbard--Satterthwaite Games. In this paper we look for conditions that guarantee the existence of a Nash equilibria in pure strategies.

cs.GT↗
arXiv2017

Hyperbolic Discounting of the Far-Distant Future

We prove an analogue of Weitzman's (1998) famous result that an exponential discounter who is uncertain of the appropriate exponential discount rate should discount the far-distant future using the lowest (i.e., most patient) of the possible discount rates. Our analogous result applies to a hyperbolic discounter who is uncertain about the appropriate hyperbolic discount rate. In this case, the far-distant future should be discounted using the probability-weighted harmonic mean of the possible hyperbolic discount rates.

econ.GN↗
arXiv2016

Axiomatic Characterization of Committee Scoring Rules

Committee scoring rules form a rich class of aggregators of voters' preferences for the purpose of selecting subsets of objects with desired properties, e.g., a shortlist of candidates for an interview, a representative collective body such as a parliament, or a set of locations for a set of public facilities. In the spirit of celebrated Young's characterization result that axiomatizes single-winner scoring rules, we provide an axiomatic characterization of multiwinner committee scoring rules. We show that committee scoring rules---despite forming a remarkably general class of rules---are characterized by the set of four standard axioms, anonymity, neutrality, consistency and continuity, and by one axiom specific to multiwinner rules which we call committee dominance. In the course of our proof, we develop several new notions and techniques. In particular, we introduce and axiomatically characterize multiwinner decision scoring rules, a class of rules that broadly generalizes the well-known majority relation.

cs.GT↗