On the membership of decision-making committees

The decision of a committee is determined jointly by the voting process it adopts and the composition of its membership. The paper analyses the proces s through which committee members emerge from the eligible population and t races the consequences of this for the decisions of the committee. It is sh own that the equilibrium committee will be composed of representatives from the extremes of the taste distribution. These extremes balance each other and the committee reaches a moderate decision. However, this mutual negatio n by the extremes is a socially wasteful use of time. Data from the UK Hous e of Lords is used to illustrate these results.