Friday, May 07, 2010

The information playing field

The average person is generally at a disadvantage when it comes to good information. Financial institutions, insurance companies, real estate agents, credit card companies are exceptionally keen on getting financial information from the average Joe. Armed with statistical information, one can statistically profile people based on their income, gender and purchasing habits. When it comes to dealing with loans and insurance I believe that the relationship between the institution and the average person is asymmetric.

It would be an interesting experiment to see if this playing field could be leveled though the creation of a database with anonymous (and reliable?) information. The people at Glassdoor have managed to do something similar but different with salary information, though I am not sure how sexy a person's spending data would be.

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