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eBay Memorabilia Auctions vis-Ã -vis Predictions for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election

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  • Jannett Highfill
  • Kevin M. O’Brien

Abstract

The present paper investigates whether there is a relationship between eBay auction outcomes for memorabilia and various predictions from the FiveThirtyEight site for the 2016 U.S. presidential election. We find that changes in the value of various FiveThirtyEight prediction variables were almost always correlated with the number of bids. For the national prediction, an increase in the probability of a Clinton victory was associated with a reduction in the number of bids and the willingness to pay for an item. Similar results were found for the subsample of Trump items, suggesting that the auctions for his items dominated the results for the full sample. JEL Classifications : A20, D44, L81

Suggested Citation

  • Jannett Highfill & Kevin M. O’Brien, 2018. "eBay Memorabilia Auctions vis-à -vis Predictions for the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 63(1), pages 71-78, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:63:y:2018:i:1:p:71-78
    DOI: 10.1177/0569434517739298
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    U.S. presidential election; eBay auctions; prediction sites;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A20 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - General
    • D44 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Auctions
    • L81 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Retail and Wholesale Trade; e-Commerce

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