Mar 27 U.S. ‘underbanked’ population increasingly using mobile banking By Simone Pathe Mobile banking is on the rise, especially among those consumers who are "underbanked" and rely on other financial services besides a traditional bank account. Continue reading
Mar 27 Connecticut to become first state to adopt $10.10 minimum wage By Robert Pursell Furthering the recent calls by President Barack Obama to fight poverty and inequality, Connecticut lawmakers passed a bill Wednesday to raise the state’s hourly minimum wage to $10.10 by 2017, making it the highest for any state in the country… Continue reading
Mar 26 Watch Facebook invests in a virtual reality future with $2 billion Oculus Rift acquisition By PBS News Hour Facebook has bought the maker of a virtual reality headset and interface for $2 billion. Economics correspondent Paul Solman profiles the company, Oculus VR, and Hari Sreenivasan talks to Vindu Goel of The New York Times for more on the… Continue watching
Mar 26 Virtual reality’s early adopters worry what mainstream usage will look like in the Facebook era By Simone Pathe Facebook has reached a $2 billion deal to purchase Oculus VR, the maker of the virtual reality headset that exposed Paul Solman to a terrifying subterranean pit. But how should that technology be used outside of the lab? Making Sen$e… Continue reading
Mar 26 How candid should Janet Yellen be? Watching emerging markets overreact to Fed transparency By Simone Pathe When the Fed chair speaks, emerging markets take note. New research about their reaction to the Fed's early hints of tapering raises bigger questions about global financial integration and the Fed's transparency. Continue reading
Mar 24 Using economic magic to pull retirement money out of a hat By Laurence Kotlikoff Larry Kotlikoff demonstrates how to increase your standard of living for retirement -- in this case, by 15 percent -- by correctly timing your Social Security, 401(k) and Roth IRA withdrawals. Continue reading
Mar 21 Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox finds $119 million in missing bitcoins By Justin Scuiletti Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, which filed for bankruptcy in February after losing 744,408 bitcoins belonging to customers in addition to 100,000 it owned, reports it has found nearly a quarter of its lost cache in a forgotten online wallet. Continue reading
Mar 21 Former IMF chief economist Simon Johnson on why loans won’t help Ukraine By Simon Johnson Simon Johnson doesn't think Ukraine's problems can be solved with more money, and he doesn't want to see IMF reforms tied so closely to Ukraine's aid package. Continue reading
Mar 20 Fed says biggest banks could withstand severe economic downturn By Simone Pathe On the first of two report card days for big banks in America, all but one bank received a passing grade from the Federal Reserve. The central bank released the results of its “stress test” of 30 bank-holding companies with… Continue reading
Mar 20 Can you really live better longer without long-term care insurance? By Lewis Mandell Not all readers bought Lew Mandell's skepticism of long-term care insurance. Is it not a smart investment for Americans who can't afford to self-insure their future care? Mandell returns to explain when this investment makes sense and when it's a… Continue reading