A Survey of Studies on Social Choice Theory
社会选择理论研究综述

Social choice theory is one of the important achievements of economics in the recent years.The theory focuses on the relation between individual preference and collective choice and the methods to fairly estimate different social situations,such as voting,with the aim to resolve conflicts between individual and collective values.The theory can be used in the field of politics and others,including culture and sports.Along with the process of market economy transformation in China,conflicts between individual and collective values are inevitable.Obviously,a set of efficient social choice rules are necessary for us to enhance the efficiency of social policy decision and improve social welfare.We need a survey of studies on the social choice theory in China to further study the theory.However,the Chinese academic circle has not paid full attention to the social choice theory and the knowledge of it is fairly limited.From 1989 to 2004,only 35 papers on this theory were published in the Chinese academic circle and scholars from subjects other than economics contributed half of them.But this also shows that the theory has gradually drawn the attention of more researchers.Most of the research achievements in China are in the field of function algorithm and the demonstration of assumption.It is obvious that scholars of mathematics and management have made much more contribution to it than economists.According to the context,we conclude that the social choice theory is not only an important part of economics but also an inter-disciplinary subject of economics,mathematics and management.With an increasing number of researchers from other fields joining in the research,rapid progress can be expected.