Seems Like a Bad Idea

Seems Like a Bad Idea

From Cheap Talk by Jeff Kaplow and Marcus Holmes

April 2, 2026 · 56 min · Season 6 · Episode 22

About this episode

The episode discusses the implications of the Iran war on Russia and China, along with insights on prediction markets and crowd wisdom.

How Russia benefits from the Iran war; President Trump’s recent statements about how the war is going; China is both helped by and hurt by the Iran war; prediction markets as an aggregation mechanism for the wisdom of crowds; insider trading and insider influence; the characteristics of wise crowds; and Marcus will never make that mistake again The opinions expressed on this podcast are solely our own and do not reflect the policies or positions of William & Mary. Please subscribe to Cheap Talk on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or your podcast player of choice to be notified when new episodes are posted. Check out our online store at https://cheaptalk.shop . Further Reading: Will Oremus and Jeremy B. Merrill. 2026. “A journalist reported a missile strike. Then came the death threats.” Washington Post. See all Cheap Talk episodes

People in this episode

Hosts: Jeff Kaplow, Marcus Holmes

Topics covered

  • Iran war
  • Russia
  • China
  • prediction markets
  • insider trading
  • crowd wisdom

Keywords

  • Iran war
  • Russia
  • China
  • prediction markets
  • insider trading
  • crowd wisdom
  • Trump statements

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Washington Post

Places: Russia, Iran, China

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