With prediction markets, participants put their money where their mouths are regarding worldwide events ranging from government elections to the outbreak of war. The question is, are these markets more accurate than polls and politicians?
Volume 31, Number 3, June 2004
FEATURE ARTICLES
DIGITAL EDITION
DEPARTMENTS 
Inside Story
When Greed is Good
In the highly polarized environment that marks most 2004 political campaigns, polling Democrats and Republicans regarding their presidential preferences makes about as much sense as asking 4-year-olds what would they rather have for dinner, turnips or ice cream. You know the answer before you ask the question.
President's Desk
T h e B u s i n e s s o f P u b l i s h i n g J o u r n a l s
According to its charter, INFORMS exists in order to “lead in the development, dissemination and implementation of knowledge” about OR/MS. In order to fulfill this mission, INFORMS and its predecessor societies have been publishing peer-reviewed scholarly journals for more than 50 years. Our journals are generally the top journals in their areas – the most widely read and the most highly cited. In addition to the magazine in which you are reading this, OR/MS Today, INFORMS now publishes 11 such journals. This is a major activity and accounts for more than two-thirds of all INFORMS revenue. Library subscriptions alone account for over half of all INFORMS revenue. Thus, INFORMS is in the journal business, and its finances depend upon it.
Issues in Education
T e a c h i n g E t h i c s : I t ’ s t h e R i g h t T h i n g t o D o
Ethics was once considered to be the exclusive domain of philosophers and theologians, but more recently there has been a push to implement and integrate ethics within the engineering profession. For example, the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) requires ethical content in industrial engineering programs to receive their nationally recognized accreditation. (The author does not mean to let those in business schools off the hook. Many business ethics courses have largely become courses on avoiding breaking the law, and somehow, that doesn’t seem quite ethical either.)
INFORMS Online
Who Is Darl McBride, and Why Is He Saying Those Te r r i b l e T h i n g s about Linux?
INFORMS Online runs on a Web platform architecture known as LAMP, which stands for “Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP.” LAMP is a collection of open-source tools for Web development: operating system, Web server, database and scripting language. (A more broad-minded expansion is “Linux-Apache-MySQL/PostgreSQLPHP/Perl/Python,” encompassing alternative open-source database and scripting tools.) IOL’s history has been tied to Unix since its beginnings on a University of Michigan Sun workstation. I and other members of the editorial staff believe that this open-source infrastructure and these tools in particular represent a strategic advantage compared to closed-source alternatives. Thus, wherever possible, our tools are built on open source.
Was It Something I Said
O v e r c o m i n g C o n f e r e n c e A n g s t
Just came back from a conference at the University of Pennsylvania. Very nice place – classical architecture, pleasant walkways and leafy green trees. A visit to a Cathedral of Learning can be a real shot in the arm for someone who now does his preaching on a street corner.
Cyberspace
I r a q , E n r o n a n d V i e t n a m : T h e P e r i l s o f I d e a l i s m
Last night I saw the new movie version of The Quiet American based on Graham Greene’s 1956 novel about Vietnam in 1952. What struck me were the ideals and intensity of the main character, Pyles, an idealistic American who creates a third front with the CIA to fight both the French and the communists. I saw that intensity and idealism during the Internet boom years, Enron being a case in point. I also see some parallels with the war we have now. The three situations, Iraq, Enron and Vietnam, are not the same, and one hopes that Iraq turns out to be a happier situation. But there are interesting things in common.
ORacle
T h e P s y c h i a t r i s t s ’ P a r a b l e
The cocktail party was progressing pleasantly. It was in the late 1980s, and the OR/MS analyst was just breaking into the ranks of experienced professionals – hence his inclusion in this gathering, a rather fancy evening in a large house in one of the nicer suburbs. Cruising near the table full of tasty snacks, the analyst arrived at the guacamole dip at the same time as a psychiatrist he’d met a few times before. “Hi! How are you?” led quickly to “What do you do?” and before long they were chatting somewhat seriously about their work.