Social choice theory in its modern and systematic form owes its rigorous foundation to the work of Kenneth J. Arrow in his 1950 Columbia University PhD dissertation. Arrow’s thesis contained his famous “impossibility theorem,” an analytical result of breathtaking elegance and reach.
现代、系统性的社会选择理论的一个主要基础是肯尼斯·阿罗（Kenneth J. Arrow）在其1950年哥伦比亚大学的博士论文中做出的工作。阿罗的论文包括了著名的“不可能定理”，这一分析结果优美无比，也深邃无比。