Optimal Committee Performance: Size versus Diversity

17 Pages Posted: 18 Jun 2013

See all articles by Peter C. Stone

Peter C. Stone

Trinity College (Dublin); Stanford University

Koji Kagotani

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: 2012

Abstract

The Condorcet Jury Theorem (CJT), together with a large and growing literature of ancillary results, suggests two conclusions. First, large committees outperform small committees, other things equal. Second, heterogeneous committees can, under the right circumstances, outperform homogeneous ones, again other things equal. But this literature has done little to bring these two conclusions together. This paper employs simulations to compare the respective contributions of size and difference to optimal committee performance. It demonstrates that the contributions depend dramatically upon bias. In the presence of low bias, committee composition matters little. In the presence of high bias, it can matter a great deal; optimal committee performance, however, does not vary dramatically between low- and high-bias committees.

Keywords: Bias, Diversity, Condorcet Jury Theorem, Difference

JEL Classification: D71,

Suggested Citation

Stone, Peter C. and Kagotani, Koji, Optimal Committee Performance: Size versus Diversity (2012). EPSA 2013 Annual General Conference Paper 581, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2224961

Peter C. Stone (Contact Author)

Trinity College (Dublin) ( email )

2-3 College Green
Dublin, 2
Ireland

Stanford University ( email )

Stanford, CA 94305
United States

Koji Kagotani

affiliation not provided to SSRN

No Address Available

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