Iowa Electronic Markets

Both of my parents went to University of Iowa, and I found out about the Iowa Electronic Markets on my own. Go figure.

The IEM is an Internet-based research tool that allows students to invest real money to trade in a variety of contracts, including the outcome of future events like an election outcome, an economic indicator or a movie's box office receipts. Over 100 universities participate, including Harvard, MIT, Michigan, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Northwestern.

As this related to elections, the IEM allows students can trade "shares" of political candidates and parties (the payoff depends on the election results). Not the same as iVoteIndie but a very cool idea that’s been around since the late 80’s.

I will be contacting this group when they return to campus later this month.