Economic Choices 2008 - Iowa Electronic Markets

At the University of Iowa, they've set up a market-based system for handicapping the presidential election. In his second report filed from the state, NBR Washington Bureau Chief Darren Gersh finds out how these Iowa Electronic Markets work and which candidates currently have the best odds of winning.



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External Links/Articles*

• AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies (PDF Document)
  The Joint Center was established by the American Enterprise Institute and the Brookings Institution to research "the impact of regulation on consumers, business, and government." This links to a detailed 2006 report published by the center titled, "Information Markets: A New Way of Making Decisions."
• American Economic Association (AEA) (PDF Document)
  The links to an August 2005 version of an AEA annual meeting paper titled, "Interpreting the Predications of Prediction Markets." It was authored by Charles Manski of Northwestern University.
• Iowa Electronic Markets
  The Iowa Electronic Markets (IEM) are "real-money futures markets in which contract payoffs depend on economic and political events such as elections." The IEM prediction/information markets are operated by faculty and the University of Iowa and are profiled in Darren Gersh's report.
• University of Iowa
  This links to the website of the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, which created the Iowa Electronic Markets Darren Gersh profiles in his report.
• University of Pennsylvania (PDF Document)
  This links to a paper offered by the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. It is titled "Interpreting Prediction Market Prices as Probabilities" and was authored by Just Wolfers of Wharton and Eric Zitzewitz of Standford.

*Clicking these external links will take you off the NBR web site on PBS.org. NBR has no affiliation with these sites.