Trading politics: University runs market to predict provincial election results
VANCOUVER — A professor at the University of British Columbia says using real money to predict election results can be more accurate than public polling.
Werner Antweiler runs the school’s online election market, where people use cash to buy contracts or “shares” representing political parties ahead of provincial or federal elections.
He says traders can either take long positions, buying shares in parties they think will grow in value, or short positions, where they buy shares they think are overvalued and then sell them to benefit.
The outcomes are all tied to real election results.