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Forecasting the outcome of closed-door decisions: evidence from 500 years of betting on papal conclaves

Vaughan Williams, Leighton; Paton, David

Authors

Leighton Vaughan Williams



Abstract

Closed-door decisions may be defined as decisions in which the outcome is determined by a limited number of decision-makers and where the process is shrouded in at least some secrecy. In this paper, we examine the use of betting markets to forecast one particular closed-door decision, the election of the Pope. Within the context of 500 years of papal election betting, we employ a unique dataset of betting on the 2013 papal election to investigate how new public information is incorporated into the betting odds. Our results suggest that the market was generally unable to incorporate effectively such information. We venture some possible explanations for our findings and offer suggestions for further research into the prediction and predictability of other ‘closed-door’ decisions.

Citation

Vaughan Williams, L., & Paton, D. (2015). Forecasting the outcome of closed-door decisions: evidence from 500 years of betting on papal conclaves. Journal of Forecasting, 34(5), 391-404. doi:10.1002/for.2339

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Feb 23, 2015
Online Publication Date Mar 22, 2015
Publication Date Aug 31, 2015
Deposit Date Dec 18, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Journal of Forecasting
Print ISSN 0277-6693
Publisher Wiley
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 34
Issue 5
Pages 391-404
DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/for.2339
Keywords Management Science and Operations Research; Strategy and Management; Statistics, Probability and Uncertainty; Modelling and Simulation; Computer Science Applications
Public URL https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1421334

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