Sometime back I read a fascinating book called the Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki. The book talks about how and under what conditions crowds can be wiser than the individual. It makes for an engaging read and is packed with interesting anecdotes (though some arguments are not entirely well supported – the author relies a lot on stating thoughts which may intuitively appeal to the reader rather than defending them with evidence or logic – can’t help it – Freakonomics spoilt me).
Anyway, a very interesting concept in the book is that of decision markets. You can learn more about them here on Wikipedia.
Apparently the likes of HP, Microsoft, Google use it internally, and there are several other projects which rely on the same.
One such example mentioned by Surowiecki was the Hollywood Stock Exchange – who actually sell their data to Movie Studios.
Which got me thinking – how about a Bollywood Stock Exchange – in our stocks-crazy movie-crazy nation wouldn’t this do exceedingly well? As usual, that called for a logo:
Turns out some guys have already come up with a similar service for India – and they are not just covering bollywood, but sports and current affairs. Haven’t gotten a chance to slice-and-dice their business model – but at any rate a promising site. All the best guys!
For a counterpoint, read the ever eclectic Taleb who says decision markets are for suckers!
Hi Ashish,
Thanks for mention about LordsOfOdds. Yes, we guys have started our offering around prediction markets and in fact , the first to do so in India.
We do have some more products on the anvil. Would love to discuss and share more about it .
Asutosh