An equity-efficiency trade-off in a geometric approach to committee selection

The trade-off between equity and efficiency is analyzed in a geometric framework for the problem of committee selection, which has recently attracted interest in the social choice literature. It is shown that this trade-off can be maximal in the precise sense of the antipodality of the outcomes corresponding to the rules implementing the two normative principles. Following an approach in location theory, the minimization of the convex combination of the two criteria is presented as a compromise solution.