Money and Computing

President Obama and his team pushed through a credit card reform bill in May, and they're now looking to establish a new Consumer Finance Protection Agency. But the banking and financial services industries contribute huge amounts of money to Congress - and the jury is still out on whether the new regulations can pass. From a Frontline press release about the upcoming PBS program about the consumer loan industry and its impact on a fragile economy. more »

When the internet is used as a medium for neighborhood social contact, such as a neighborhood email list or community forum (e.g., i-neighbors.org), participants tend to have very high levels of local engagement. more »

Most married men claim Social Security benefits at age 62 or 63, well short of both Social Security’s Full Retirement Age and the age that maximizes the household’s expected present value of benefits (EPVB). This results in a loss of less than 4 percent in household EPBV. But essentially the entire loss is borne by the survivor benefit, falls nearly 20 percent. As many elderly widows have very low incomes, early claiming by married men is a major social problem. more »

When dark pools share information about their trading interest with other dark pools, they can function like private networks that exclude the public investor. more »