Putting the wisdom of crowds to good use, AskMarkets is an initiative that can be defined as a web service for prediction markets. The idea behind this project is to combine the knowledge of people in order to arrive at an accurate forecast as regards the way markets will evolve.
This system is implemented in a manner not entirely dissimilar to the way a stock market operates – but instead of trading stocks, site users trade opinions and knowledge. Users can post questions such as “Will company X brave the recession and be bought in the end?”, and then users can submit their guesses along with any revealing information they might have in order to come up with a prediction.
A prediction market can thus be created, and the actual issues to be discussed can range far and wide. For instance, you can use it to know who will win the upcoming Academy Awards, or who is going to win the next Ryder Cup.
Of course, you can also post questions as regards financial issues, and hopefully find a way to battle the recession. Any way or the other, you are certain to find the AskMarkets website up to the challenge.