Abner Stories

The Power of Markets

Markets are powerful creatures. Despite getting slammed by the press all week, DARPA's Policy Analysis Market, or PAM was a good idea. It is too bad it was introduced poorly, there are few ways to consolidate and filter massive amounts of intelegence. This would have been a good start on identifying trends and places where our defense and policy types should pay attention and focus their limited resources. James Surowiecki, has written a must read article for anyone who has found themselves confused by the press hubbub surrounding PAM.

James doesn't mention it, but a market already exists to allow people to bet on political events here in the US, along with a market betting on the fall of Saddam and other current events. In fact, there is now a new market betting on Poindexter's ability to remain on the DARPA payroll! I'm betting no. Keep the market, dump Poindexter Go to Tradesports.com and click on Current Events to see each of these markets in action.