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Discover how prediction markets leverage consensus to predict environmental outcomes accurately, empowering stakeholders to make informed decisions for a sustainable future. Explore applications, benefits, and insights into environmental security through real-time monitoring and expert evaluation. Join the conversation on mitigating risks like natural disasters, deforestation, and climate change with data-driven forecasts and intervention scenarios. Engage in decision markets to evaluate costs, benefits, and potential impacts of global environmental policies. Stay informed, be a stakeholder, and shape the future through prediction markets.
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Environmental Futures Emile Servan-Schreiber, Ph.D. NewsFutures.com
Consensus Machines Markets aggregate Dispersed information Various interpretations Conflicting beliefs Consensus (trading price)
Forecasting Tool Futures markets aggregate Dispersed information Various interpretations Conflicting beliefs Consensus Prediction (trading price)
What is a Prediction Market? Contract is worth $100 if it happens, or nothing if it doesn’t. trading price event probability
Market Price = Event Probability Trading prices really do correspond to observed event frequencies Source: SCIENCE, Feb 1, 2001
More Accurate Than Polls Consensus of expert stakeholders vs “representative” population sample Source: Iowa Electronic Markets
More Accurate Than Polls Consensus of expert stakeholders vs “representative” population sample Source: Iowa Electronic Markets
Why are MarketsMore Accurate than Polls? • Polls average over individual opinions and do not engage the intellect. • Markets engage people into a conversation with one another and forces them to come to a consensus (aka the trading price).
Prediction Markets Help Most When: • Information/expertise is distributed among many, hard to gather, or difficult to verbalize (implicit knowledge). • New information comes in continuously, requiring frequent updates of forecasts. • Information is subject to various interpretations.
Increase or decrease this year? • World’s Ecological Footprint • Insurance industry payments due to natural disasters • Amazon forest fires • Environmentally induced migration • Size of the Ozone Hole • Global temperature • Etc.
Will happen this year? • Kyoto becomes effective • China becomes a net importer of food • Man-made famine • Oil spill • Etc.
Applications • Environmental Security Dashboard: • Continuous, real-time monitoring of consensus estimates about expected environmental outcomes. • Decision Support: • Decision markets can evaluate costs/benefits of intervention scenarios: What if Bush is re-elected? What if the U.S. ratifies Kyoto?
General Public Markets • Deepen awareness of the problems, solutions, and progress made (or unmade). • People become stakeholders in a personal sense. • Feel the public pulse in real-time;
Experts-Only Markets • Cut through the fog of scientific debate with clear, quantified consensus signals. • Rapidly, collectively estimate various intervention (or lack thereof) scenarii. • Help indentify those who tend to predict correctly, sideline those who tend to be wrong.
Insiders Markets • Hedge against various environmental outcomes. • Generate valuable insiders signals.