If they have lost their job, they try to spend as little money as possible. Americans are also buying more big-ticket items like cars, home appliances, and homes, indicating that they are confident enough to take advantage of the currently low interest rates and feel more certain they can pay back the loans in the future. More businesses are hiring, indicating that consumer demand has increased and there is a greater need for staff to meet the business' needs. The stock market is improving, which also indicates that people are investing their money in a more high-risk fashion than before, and feel more confident about the direction of the economy. Q3. Do you believe companies should be allowed to place cookies on your electronic devices without notifying you as a condition of doing business with them? Do you believe they should be able to place cookies that automatically re-spawn after a user deletes them? From an economic perspective, is there a benefit in allowing companies to install cookies? Is there harm? Do the benefits outweigh the costs?

A company should not be allowed to silently place a cookie in what is a consumer's private equipment -- his or her computer. This would be equivalent to a...

However, at least consumers can delete cookies -- the problem comes with automatically 're-spawning' cookies that further take away a consumer's choice to not share his or her information with a company. Most consumers do not understand that they are being tracked after making a purchase, so there is no clear decision by the consumer to share his or her personal information in such a permanent fashion. The supposed benefit is that consumers can receive updates specifically tied to their needs while surfing the web, based upon search patterns and previous purchases. However, this at best encourages consumers to make additional purchases they do not necessarily need and at worst could lead to the exposure of consumer identity in inappropriate ways (Shpritz 2011)
References

Shpritz, Dave, Tyrone Proctor, Christopher L. Smith, & Cathy Iacobazzi. (2011). Issues in information technology: Cookies. Retrieved March 30, 2011 at http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/its/EcommSp01/procon.htm