Two information aggregation mechanisms for predicting the opening weekend box office revenues of films: Boxoffice Prophecy and Guess of Guesses

B-Tier
Journal: Economic Theory
Year: 2018
Volume: 65
Issue: 1
Pages: 25-54

Authors (4)

David Court (not in RePEc) Benjamin Gillen (not in RePEc) Jordi McKenzie (Macquarie University) Charles R. Plott (not in RePEc)

Score contribution per author:

0.503 = (α=2.01 / 4 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

Abstract Field tests were conducted on two new information aggregation mechanism designs. The mechanisms were designed to collect information held as intuitions about opening weekend box office revenues for movies in Australia. The principles on which the mechanisms operate and their capacity to collect information are explored. A pari-mutuel mechanism produces a predicted probability distribution over box office amounts that is, with the exception of very small films, indistinguishable from the actual revenues. The second mechanism is based on guessing the guesses of others and when applied under conditions where incentives for accuracy are unavailable still performs well against data.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:spr:joecth:v:65:y:2018:i:1:d:10.1007_s00199-017-1036-1
Journal Field
Theory
Author Count
4
Added to Database
2026-01-26