by Ronald J. Mann
PUBLISHER: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521866111
PRICE: $65.00
PAGES: 250 pp
PUBLICATION DATE: September 2006
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Reviews
"A new book on payment cards may become the textbook of choice for students and industry professionals studying the expanding electronic payments market. "Charging Ahead: The Growth and Regulation of Payment Card Markets" by Ronald J. Mann is published by Cambridge University Press. The book focuses on regulatory aspects of the payments industry, no surprise as Mann is an attorney who clerked for a Supreme Court justice and was assistant to the Solicitor General at the U.S. Department of Justice. Mann teaches at the University of Texas School of Law in Austin. The book provides an introduction to and some history of the payments industry and follows with coverage of rewards programs, global activity, contract design, interchange, consumer debt and bankruptcy legislation.
The book is readable, though the research is thorough with Mann backing up his points with hard-core analysis. Mann's conclusions will scare some in the payment industry as he recommends banning the marketing of cards to college students, allowing surcharging for card payments and implementing a federal tax on credit card issuers designed to reduce their lending to less creditworthy consumers. However, Mann writes he is "realistic enough to recognize the political implausibility of what I propose." Instead, he says he seeks to give academics, policy makers and others an "understanding of exactly how the card [industry] works and what it contributes to the U.S. economy."
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