Assignment #179

Intrade

I heard about this site from Chris Mathews when he was on the Martha Stewart Show. It’s a Web2.0 site that lets you bet on just about anything but it does it as a zero sum market (minus a tiny commission). What’s interesting is that as a free market, the price of the “bet” represents the real time feeling or intuition by the market as to the possibilities of that bet. Confused? Sorry! Ok, go to Intrade. On the left click on POLITICS-2008 US ELECTION. Slide down until you see 2008 Presidential Election Winner. When I was here, Hillary’s contracts were going for about 44 or $4.40. If you buy one and she wins you get $10. If she doesn’t become president you get zero and lose your $4.40. If more people think she’s going to win, the price will go up. You can sell anytime.

Now some things I’m still foggy on like how things get started but it is an interesting site.

Play!!