[lbo-talk] Varian defends terror futures

[Brad DeLong]

>[Brad, your colleague needs counseling for a bad case of market 
>mysticism. Love the bit about oil futures - was the oil market right 
>at $10 or at $40? Right about what? Ecological risks? Limited 
>supplies? Or just tomorrow's price?]

Just tomorrow's price...

Now IIRC, Varian does not believe that the U.S. government should be 
funding trading pits in which people bet on the likelihood of the 
assassinations of foreign leaders...

But simply having people bet on and thus forecast what the Economist 
GIU's "stability" indices will be in a year seems innocuous--and 
might actually provide some useful information...

Brad