The Balinski–Young Comparison of Divisor Methods is Transitive

摘要

The ‘favoring small states’ relation of Balinski and Young (Fair representation, 1982) imposes stronger requirements on the nature of seat transfers than the majorization-ordering introduced by Marshall et al. (Soc Choice Welfare 19(4):885–900, 2002). For divisor methods, however, the two relations coincide. As a consequence, when restricted to the class of divisor methods the Balinski and Young relation is transitive.