The influence of market ecology on market efficiency: Evidence from a speculative financial market

Main Article Content

Ming-Chien Sung
Johnnie E.V. Johnson

Abstract

This paper explores differences in market ecology in a speculative financial market, the horserace betting market, and examines the impact these variations have on the information which returns seeking bettors need to incorporate in their subjective probability estimates. Conditional logit models are employed to demonstrate that different types of data influence the outcome of races distinguished by the degree to which the information environment is benign/hostile to bettors. The results suggest that the degree to which bettors use appropriate information in assessing horses’ winning probabilities is influenced by market ecology and that this in turn affects the degree of efficiency in different market segments.

Article Details

Section
Articles

References

M Ali ‘Probability and utility estimates for racetrack bettors’ (1977) Journal of Political Economy, 85, 803-15.

P Asch, BG Malkiel and RE Quandt ‘Racetrack betting and informed behaviour’ (1982) Journal of Financial Economics, 10, 187-194.

W Benter ‘Computer based horse race handicapping and wagering systems: A report’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 183-98.

S Betton ‘Post position bias: An econometric analysis of the 1987 season at Exhibition Park’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 511-26.

R Bird and M McCrae ‘Efficiency of racetrack betting markets: Australian evidence’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 575-82.

RN Bolton and RG Chapman ‘Searching for positive returns at the track: A multinomial logit model for handicapping horse races’ (1986) Management Science, 32, 1040-60.

SL Brecher Beating the Races with a Computer (Long Beach, CA: Software Supply, 1983)

AC Bruce and JEV Johnson ‘Investigating the roots of the favourite-longshot bias: An analysis of decision-making by supply and demand-side agents in parallel betting markets’ (2000) The Journal of Behavioral Decision Making, 13, 413-30.

AC Bruce and JEV Johnson ‘Market ecology and decision behaviour in state-contingent claims markets’ (2005) Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 56, 199-217.

K Busche ‘Efficient Market Results in an Asian Setting’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 615-616.

K Busche and CD Hall ‘An exception to the risk preference anomaly’ (1988) Journal of Business, 61, 337-346.

BR Canfield, BC Fauman and WT Ziemba ‘Efficient market adjustment of odds prices to reflect track biases’ (1987) Management Science, 33, 1428-39.

RG Chapman ‘Still searching for positive returns at the track: Empirical results from 2,000 Hong Kong races’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 173-181.

NFR Crafts ‘Some evidence of insider knowledge in horse race betting in Britain’ (1985) Economica, 52, 295-304.

NFR Crafts ‘Winning systems? Some further evidence on insiders and outsiders in British horse race betting’ In DB Hausch, VSY Lo and WT Ziemba (eds) Efficiency of Racetrack Betting Markets (London, Academic Press, 1994) p 545-9.

J Dowie ‘On the efficiency and equity of betting markets’ (1976) Economica, 43, 139-50.

DC Edelman ‘Adapting support vector machine methods for horserace odds prediction’ (2003) 12th International Conference on Gambling and Risk Taking, Vancouver, BC.

PE Gabriel and JR Marsden ‘An examination of market efficiency in British racetrack betting’ (1990) Journal of Political Economy, 98, 874-85.

PE Gabriel and JR Marsden ‘An examination of efficiency in British racetrack betting: Errata and corrections’ (1991) Journal of Political Economy, 99, 657-659.

JM Gander, RA Zuber and RS Johnson ‘Searching for the favorite-longshot bias down under: An examination of the New Zealand pari-mutuel betting market’ (2001) Applied Economics, 33, 1621-9.

RM Griffith ‘Odds adjustments by American horse-race bettors’ (1949) American Journal of Psychology, 62, 290-294.

MG Gu, C Huang and W Benter ‘Multinomial probit models for competitive horse racing’ (2003) Working paper of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

WH McGlothlin ‘Stability of choices among uncertain alternatives’ (1956) American Journal of Psychology, 69, 604-19.

RD Sauer ‘The economics of wagering markets’ (1998) Journal of Economic Literature, XXXVI, 2021-2064.

HS Shin ‘Optimal betting odds against insider traders’ (1991) Economic Journal, 101, 1179-1185.

HS Shin ‘Prices of state contingent claims with insider traders, and the favourite-longshot Bias’ (1992) The Economic Journal, 102, 426-35.

HS Shin ‘Measuring the incidence of insider trading in a market for state-contingent’ (1993) The Economic Journal, 103, 1141-53.

MA Smith ‘The impact of tipster information on bookmakers’ prices in UK horse-race markets’ In L Vaughan Williams (ed) The Economics of Gambling (London, Routledge, 2003) p 67-79.

WW Snyder ‘Horse racing: Testing the efficient markets model’ (1978) The Journal of Finance, XXXIII, 1109-18.

S Swidler and R Shaw ‘Racetrack wagering and the “uninformed” bettor: a study of market efficiency’ (1995) The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, 35, 305-314.

R Thaler and WT Ziemba ‘Pari-mutuel betting markets: Racetracks and lotteries’ (1988) Journal of Economic Perspectives, 2, 161-74.

R Tuckwell ‘The thoroughbred gambling market: Efficiency, equity and related issues’ (1983) Australian Economic Papers, June, 106-18.

L Vaughan Williams ‘Can forecasters forecast successfully? Evidence from UK betting markets’ (2000) Journal of Forecasting, 19, 505-13.

L Vaughan Williams ‘Weak form information efficiency in betting markets’ In L Vaughan Williams (ed) Information Efficiency in Financial and Betting Markets (Cambridge University Press, 2005) p 84-122.

L Vaughan Williams and D Paton ‘Does information efficiency require a perception of information inefficiency?’ (1997) Applied Economics Letters, 4, 615-617.

L Vaughan Williams and D Paton ‘Why are some favourite-longshot biases positive and others negative?’ (1998) Applied Economics, 30, 1505-1510.

EM White, R Dattero and B Flores ‘Combining vector forecasts to predict thoroughbred horse race outcomes’ (1992) International Journal of Forecasting, 8, 595-611.