Show Me The Money: Behavioral Economics And Consumer Protection | The New Republic

Show Me The Money: Behavioral Economics And Consumer Protection | The New Republic: The first is average-use information, by which issuers reveal the average pattern shown by the entire population or relevant subgroups. The second is individual-use information, derived from the individual consumer’s actual behavior. Bar-Gill urges that individual-use information is better, because it is more accurate, and so it should be disclosed if it is available. Bar-Gill quotes Duncan McDonald, formerly general counsel of Citigroup’s Europe and North America card business: “No other industry in the world knows consumers and their transactions behavior better than the bank card industry.” Bar-Gill contends that because issuers know so much about use patterns—indeed, more than consumers themselves do—they should share that information with consumers.