There’s a critical debate this country must have but isn’t. Is borrowing money a bad thing that consumers and small businesses should be discouraged from doing in part by restraining lenders? Or is credit essential to the well-being of consumers and small businesses and the...
As part of its overhaul of financial services regulation the Obama Administration has proposed stronger protection of consumers of financial products and services.[1] The Consumer Financial Protection Agency Act of 2009 (CFPA Act), which the Administration submitted to the U.S. Congress on June 30, 2009,...
If Senators needed any further reason not to vote for the misguided Dodd-Frank bill two stories over the last week should have pushed them into the NO column. Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to...
The following is based on remarks made by David S. Evans at the New York Federal Reserve Board-New York University Conference on Regulating Consumer Financial Products, January 6, 2010, New York, NY. Let’s begin with a puzzle raised by the previous session on who should...
Facebook wunderkind Mark Zuckerberg and his partners made it look easy. The social networking platform ignited almost immediately after it was introduced at Harvard College. It didn’t take many friends seeking friends and guys seeking girls and vice versa to create enough “fissionable material” as...
Remember the kid’s story “The Little Engine That Could.” That describes what goes on with a lot of startups in two-sided markets. The train is trying to get up the mountain, but it needs to accelerate to offset the force of gravity that’s pushing it...
Hard data are not available but based on my experience billions of dollars each year go poof in the payments industry from investments in products that crash and burn soon after launch. These products didn’t have a sound ignition strategy which should be the foundation...
June 30, 2011 Get the Full Story Complete the form to unlock this article and enjoy unlimited free access to all PYMNTS content — no additional logins required. yesSubscribe to our daily newsletter, PYMNTS Today. By completing this form, you agree to receive marketing communications...
MasterCard’s new In-Control Card (the name speaks for itself but more details on their Product Profile)–illustrates the good side of behavioral economics. Behavioral economics is the new (within economist-time) field that studies how and why people act the way they do and tosses out old...