Tutorial on Computational Social Choice at TbiLLC-2011

Social choice theory deals with questions regarding the design and analysis of methods for collective decision making. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the computational aspects of collective decision making, giving rise to the field of computational social choice. This tutorial will provide an introduction to this field, highlighting in particular the role of logic in computational social choice. The first lecture will be devoted to a general introduction and an exposition of the axiomatic method in social choice theory; the second lecture will be about logical languages for preference representation and social choice; and the third lecture will be an introduction to judgment aggregation. No special background knowledge will be expected.

Lecturer: Ulle Endriss (ILLC, University of Amsterdam)
Venue: 9th International Tbilisi Symposium on Language, Logic and Computation, Kutaisi, Georgia, 26-30 September 2011
Slides: PDF (4up)

The following paper is the main reference for this tutorial:

U. Endriss. Logic and Social Choice Theory. In J. van Benthem and A. Gupta (eds.), Logic and Philosophy Today, College Publications. In press (2011).

For further reading on the topics touched upon during the tutorial, you can consult the following survey papers:

Y. Chevaleyre, U. Endriss, J. Lang, and N. Maudet. A Short Introduction to Computational Social Choice. Proc. 33rd Conference on Current Trends in Theory and Practice of Computer Science (SOFSEM-2007), Springer-Verlag, 2007.
Y. Chevaleyre, U. Endriss, J. Lang, and N. Maudet. Preference Handling in Combinatorial Domains: From AI to Social Choice. AI Magazine, 29(4):37-46, 2008.
P. Faliszewski, E. Hemaspaandra, and L.A. Hemaspaandra. Using Complexity to Protect Elections. Communications of the ACM, 553(11):74-82, 2010.
C. List. The Theory of Judgment Aggregation: An Introductory Review. Synthese. In press (2011).

For further reading on classical (as opposed to computational) social choice there are several good textbooks available. For the audience of this tutorial I specifically recommend these:

W. Gaertner. A Primer in Social Choice Theory. Revised edition. LSE Perspectives in Economic Analysis. Oxford University Press, 2009.
H. Moulin. Axioms of Cooperative Decision Making. Econometric Society Monographs. Cambridge University Press, 1988.
A.D. Taylor. Social Choice and the Mathematics of Manipulation. Cambridge University Press, 2005.

I have previously given (somewhat longer) variants of this tutorial at ESSLLI-2008 and at ECAI-2010. For much more material, see my course on computational social choice, given annually at the ILLC. For teaching materials prepared by others, have a look at the website of the COST-ADT Doctoral School in Computational Social Choice held in 2010.

Visit the COMSOC website to find out about the COMSOC workshops and related events, to browse through a list of PhD theses in the field, and to join the mailing list.