Social choice theory

Social choice theory is a branch of welfare economics that extends the theory of rational choice to collective decision-making. Social choice studies the behavior of different mathematical procedures (social welfare functions) used to combine individual preferences into a coherent whole. It contrasts with political science in that it is a normative field that studies how a society can make good decisions, whereas political science is a descriptive field that observes how societies actually do make decisions.

Extends: [Social choice theory](https://wikipedia.org.ai/Social choice theory), Metaethics, [Political science](https://wikipedia.org.ai/Political science), [Public economics](https://wikipedia.org.ai/Public economics), [Applied mathematics](https://wikipedia.org.ai/Applied mathematics)