8/13/2019 Spring 2014 Optimal Bundle: Issue II

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spring-2014-optimal-bundle-issue-ii 1/2

8/13/2019 Spring 2014 Optimal Bundle: Issue II

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spring-2014-optimal-bundle-issue-ii 2/2

ON TARGET : HACKING AND CREDIT CARDS 

Roughly 110 million Target customers had payment information hacked

over the holidays, and a reason why concerns the magnetic stripes on

credit cards. Financial information is hacked easily with just magnetic

stripes that track customers’ purchases, but the United States hasn't

quickly followed other countries in creating more secure payment sys-tems. A new "chip-and-PIN" credit card system likely improves finan-

cial security, as it requires both a PIN number and a microchip embed-

ded on the card to be used. Banks might begin implementing it more

widely, but Target’s recent incident should increase their urgency in do-

ing so. — CL

THE ECONOMY , DOWN UNDER A recent JPMorgan report suggests that Australia’s economy will growmore slowly than usual. Australia's resource-heavy economy will likelysuffer as the country’s mining investment boom subsides, despite recordlow interest rates and 23 years of sustained economic growth. Iron oreand coal are Australia’s main exports, and trade based on these two ex-ports is declining. Home construction and other exports will help buoyAustralia's numbers for the time being, but not enough to subdue the ef-fects of an export slowdown. Australia’s GDP growth this year is fore-casted to be 2.75%, a slight disappointment from the hoped-for 3.25%

for the year. — CL

OPENING THE GATES OF DEVELOPMENT 

CHECK OUT THE ARTICLE: ON.WSJ.COM/19YQJON

Check out the Article: n.pr/1mtAtYk

Check out the article: bit.ly/1dByMqV

This person might be part of an

unfortunate 110 million.

Some countries would love to

have 2.75% growth, however.

In 21 years, no nation is expected

to be a poor one.

In a recently published letter, Microsoft founder and philanthropistBill Gates attempted to debunk the common myths surrounding de-veloping countries. Those myths include: poor countries are doomedto stay poor, foreign aid is a waste, and saving lives leads to over-population. His letter focused strongly on the fact that countries thatwere previously in a state of national poverty, such as Turkey andChile, now have per-person incomes equal to that of the UnitedStates in the 1960s. Gates was adamant in his belief that conditionswill continue to improve and even stated that by the year 2035, poornations will no longer exist. — LG