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Corvinus

Optimal redistricting under geographical constraints: Why "pack and crack" does not work

Puppe, Clemens and Tasnádi, Attila (2009) Optimal redistricting under geographical constraints: Why "pack and crack" does not work. Economics Letters, 105 (1). pp. 93-96. DOI 10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008

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Official URL: http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0165176509001967


Abstract

We show that optimal partisan redistricting with geographical constraints is a computationally intractable (NP-complete) problem. In particular, even when voter's preferences are deterministic, a solution is generally not obtained by concentrating opponent's supporters in \unwinnable" districts ("packing") and spreading one's own supporters evenly among the other districts in order to produce many slight marginal wins ("cracking").

Item Type:Article
Series Number / Identification Number:10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008
Uncontrolled Keywords:districting, gerrymandering, NP-complete problems
Divisions:Faculty of Economics > Department of Mathematics
Subjects:Mathematics, Econometrics
DOI:10.1016/j.econlet.2009.06.008
ID Code:275
Deposited By: Ádám Hoffmann
Deposited On:21 Feb 2011 15:37
Last Modified:18 Mar 2014 16:28

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