There are actually two theories on insider knowledge. One states that allowing insider trading is beneficial, as it allows prices to better match the underlying reality, the other states that this discourages non-insider trading, which actually makes the prices worse. Stock markets lean heavily towards the second theory, while prediction markets seem to be leaning towards the first.
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[0] - Or external knowledge, but actual knowledge - thinking of hedge funds stalking CEOs as they fly in private jets, or counting cars in parking lots from satellite photos, to get some probability estimates on factors actually relevant to the performance of a business and possible future events.
Obviously it has come a long way from that, and the markets have become more like gambling. You could probably allow insider trading at this point and the system would continue just fine.
The stock market would not be noticeably less liquid if people had to hold stocks for 24 hours, but volume would drop like a rock.
Prediction markets are doing a bit of that. Some won't take bets on an assassination.
If they get assassinated, those markets will resolve to yes. At least the rules don't specifically exclude that.
This theory is fundamentally not credible, the other side of any trade you make on the stock market is essentially always going to be vastly more sophisticated than you. Insider trading makes zero difference to the end-user.
The credible argument against insider trading is that it's a form of theft. You are making trades based on information which does not belong to you, and which you have an obvious duty to protect. You are essentially stealing from the people you work for.
>These are obviously false.
The purpose of the Ukrainian military is to exhaust the Russian army's materiel and test out our weapons. "Years-long stalemate with Russia? Yes, please." -the US. Seems like an overwhelmingly common Scott Alexander L.
Since when does country A decide what the purpose of country B's military is?
On smaller scale, this is the (in)famous "fire and motion"[0], which works in business as much as it does in military tactics. Make a move, forcing competitors to respond to it. If you're better at it than them (and lucky), you can choose your moves to make their responses go to your advantage.
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[0] - https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2002/01/06/fire-and-motion/
In any case, the blog is well regarded in these circles.
The original theoretical purpose was to incentivize the creation of new knowledge, not reward insider knowledge that already exists. For example, to fund research that helps answer some unanswered question.
Today, the purpose is obviously gambling. We can see that clearly from the marketing.
There's a ton of scholarly debate about it, and at least most of the early stuff was pretty earnest. But rather than the debate becoming more refined and nuanced over time it seems to have bifurcated along partisan (or partisan adjacent) lines like everything else, similar to the Keynesian/Misesian divide.
The Misesian folks are a lost cause, IMHO. They're hardcore rationalists, self-indulging in circular moral arguments from assumptions that don't apply in the real world.
The question isn't what percentage of bets resolve to no, but whether there is a consistent bias in the prices away from the fair price, which has an expected value of 0, and what direction that bias is in.
I'm sure in the near future, policy decisions or war strategies will be decided by prediction markets' odds, if they are not already being used.
News sources are motivated to get clicks, to appeal to certain audiences, and to retain tribal customers. None of these create incentives for truth. You can seek out smart, well-informed and principled journalists who will prioritize truth-seeking over money-making. There are some. But the fact remains you are relying on character to override incentives. With prediction markets, incentives and truth are naturally aligned. This makes them a powerful and valuable resource imo, even if there is a lot of scumminess that comes along for the ride. The insiders, more than anyone, are contributing to the truth signal.
So the feedback from prediction market turns around, so you can essentially buy events if you put enough money in.
But also motivated to bend the truth to their bet as the journalist in Israel found.
See the loop?
First, you have inside traders. Then, among legitimate bettors, you have smart people using multiple data sources (not just the "news") and doing sophisticated analysis that most journalists cannot do, and are not motivated to do -- again, because their incentives are different.
You can do research to know the US would strike, there's no other point in moving multiple carriers over to somewhere. But exactly WHEN is not researchable. This applies to most other bets. So lets stop pretending there's anything more than 2 cohorts, insiders and degenerate gamblers.
I've been doing it profitably myself for almost 10 years now. I have zero special inside knowledge, and no access to any other non-public information.
> Will the US strike Iran by X date
Last year I did think the market for a strike on Iran was significantly underpriced given the information and conditions within a specific frame of time.
I don't think every smart person can just pop into prediction markets and print money, but I know many smart people who are long-term winners. I also don't try to knock people as degenerate when they have genuine talent.
You though, are claiming that the market is perfectly priced, or should be, such that this strategy won’t work. It’s pretty hard to balance the odds of an animal seeing their shadow vs the expected strike price of the nasdaq. It’s clear you’re not familiar with betting markets, which is in your best interest most likely, but that’s not how this works.
You’re arguing against yourself… against a point nobody made but you.