More creative uses of markets

It seems like not a week goes by without another prediction market being launched.

This week’s entry: CasualObserver.net . Up and running just one week, it focuses on the U.S. midterm elections. The good news is that you can participate for free. The bad news is that if you want to win real money, you have to look elsewhere. (I guess the founder Rick Hinton doesn’t want to be arrested by a justice deparment run amok.)

The only money that will change hands is if you decide to buy some CasualObserver boxer shorts. For Rick’s sake, I hope they sell better than the Freakonomics t-shirts.