A recent study conducted by Qianqian Kong and Hans Peters has been published in Journal of Mathematical Economics. This research considers the powers in voting systems with abstention and further multiple issues. The work was completed collaboratively by Kong Qianqian and Peters Hans  from Maastricht University.

This paper considers voting systems in which abstention is possible, and in which the power of coalitions may depend on the issues under consideration. A class of issue-based Banzhaf power indices is axiomatically characterized for such systems. As a by-product, this approach also yields several new characterizations of (nonnegative multiples of) the Banzhaf power index. Examples are included to show how the indices behave.

Journal of Mathematical Economics is an important journal in mathematical economics.It is ranked as ABS 3 and FMS B. The journal aims to publish high‑quality research economic theory which expresses economic ideas using formal mathematical reasoning.

This paper can be cited as:

Kong Qianqian, Peters Hans (2026) Abstention, multiple issues, and the Banzhaf power index. Journal of Mathematical Economics, 124: 103243.

A complete version of this paper can be accessed via:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304406826000315