

The Good Side of the 'Terror Futures' Idea (Yes, There is One)  - amichail
http://dpennock.com/pam.html

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ivankirigin
People that were shocked at the idea of a futures market in terrorism and
other global events had probably never understood the term "futures market" to
begin with. It was a great idea. Though it had questionable utility given the
nature of deliberately hidden information before terror attacks, it would have
been more useful in guessing things like revolutions.

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danteembermage
An interesting and related situation is when large blockholders in
corporations simultaneously hold significant short interests in derivatives of
their company shares. This is espescially useful when a value destroying
acquisition is on the table. If the blockholder also owns a significant
portion of the target, they can use their block to force the acquistion,
profiting from the gain in the target and the loss for the acquirer.

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cmars232
Terror futures could be a good way to factor socio-political factors into a
market prediction engine.

This might be the reason they were developed in the first place.

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sbraford
Isn't there a YC startup that's related to futures markets of sorts? (or
fantasy markets)

... Wisdom of Crowds was a great read, too..

