Rarely do we feature companies that aren’t at least partially US based, but sometimes there are companies so interesting or relevant that I have to share them with you even though it would require a serious move (and probably some visa acrobatics) for you to land a job with them. Today we’re going to look at Ireland’s Intrade, a company that runs prediction markets. I originally learned about Intrade from Freakonomics, but I became more interested yesterday with the election in Massachusetts. A prediction market falls somewhere between betting and investing—it allows you to buy contracts that either pay out or don’t based on a given outcome. For example there was a time yesterday before polls closed when you could have purchased a contract for $70 that would have paid out $100 if the Republican nominee, Scott Brown, won the Massachusetts Senate election. The price of a contract reflects the probability that a given event will happen—a $70 contract represents a 70% likelihood.

Bet on Yourself

Some would claim that Intrade and other prediction markets are outright gambling, but I think there’s more to it than that. First of all, the information provided by Intrade can be extremely valuable. Secondly, it can provide a great hedging tool. Imagine that you owned a lot of stock in a health insurance company and were nervous about the ramifications of yesterday’s election on healthcare reform. You could have purchased contracts to moderate your risk. Then again, you can also buy contracts on whether you think Tiger Woods will play in a PGA event before April 30th (right now it’s 70% likely that it will happen) or whether Avatar will become the highest grossing film of all time domestically (90%). Those seem a bit frivolous, but it’s interesting to see the predictive capacity of these types of markets. You can even buy contracts on future tax rates. Economists love Intrade, and so do I. I think that prediction markets will play a bigger role in our life in the future, and if that happens, it’s going to be very good for Intrade (can I buy a contract on that?)—they charge fees on trades. Intrade doesn’t have any specific job openings, but their Jobs page does say that they are “always interested in meeting talented people with an interest in prediction markets.” If that’s you, send a cover letter and résumé to recruitment@intrade.com.

Links to Help You Begin Your Research

• Intrade.com
• Jobs at Intrade
• About Intrade
• How Intrade Works

Have you ever purchased a contract on Intrade?

We've identified Intrade as having career opportunities in the following categories:

• all employers
• economics
• finance
• international
• Ireland
• trading

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One response to “Intrade”

1. CollegeRecruiter.com Insights by Career Counselors Blog says:

   February 1, 2010 at 4:32 pm

   Entry Level Jobs With Intrade…

   Rarely do we feature companies that aren’t at least partially US based, but sometimes there are companies so interesting or relevant that I have to share them with you even though it would require a serious move (and probably some……

   Reply