Can prices predict the future?
Religion & Liberty Online

Can prices predict the future?

Note: This is post #20 in a weekly video series on basic microeconomics.

Prices can convey information about events. But can they even predict the future? Can we predict Middle East politics based on the price of oil futures? Or use a price-based system to predict the outcome of presidential elections?

In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Tyler Cowen discusses prices and prediction markets and how they are used to make prediction about real-world events.

(If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d recommend watching them at 1.5 to 2 times the speed. You can adjust the speed at which the video plays by clicking on “Settings” (the gear symbol) and changing “Speed” from normal to 1.25, 1.5 or 2.)

Previous in series: Is economic speculation immoral?

Joe Carter

Joe Carter is a Senior Editor at the Acton Institute. Joe also serves as an editor at the The Gospel Coalition, a communications specialist for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, and as an adjunct professor of journalism at Patrick Henry College. He is the editor of the NIV Lifehacks Bible and co-author of How to Argue like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator (Crossway).