I first heard about Vince Kosuga on an episode of Planet Money. To date, still my favorite story I've heard on that podcast. I've told so many people about it
Now that you mention it, that's definitely where I first learned about it too. Great podcast. Thanks for the reminder.
Apparently it's possible to make a futures market resistant to manipulation on the short side, or on the long side, but not both at the same time.
(if onions markets are poor because they're perishable, what might that imply about wage markets?)
What would happen if you made two futures markets, one resistant to manipulation on the short side and the other resistant to manipulation on the long side, through whatever mechanism makes that possible? Would that mean you could detect the presence of manipulation on one side or the other if the prices diverged (though you wouldn't necessarily know which side the manipulation was on).
Good question! I don't know enough about the subject, honestly. Would you like me to try to dig up the paper from which I got that summary?
Yeah, I can't find anything like that on google scholar. The specific claim I find surprising is that it's possible to make a futures market that is resistant to manipulation at all, even in only one direction. I kinda suspect it's going to come down to a non-standard definition of the word "resistant", but if that's not the case it's bound to be interesting.
This was really interesting — can anyone offer a recommendation for a book on the history of these types of schemes? I imagine there’s all sorts of entertaining stories.
I think that's where I first learned the term "corner the market".