One of my interests is how the financial services sector works. This originates in a six-year term as a member of the Financial Services Consumer Panel which advises the UK Financial Services Authority. My perception is that innovation in financial services has benefited the innovators much more than their clients. This has happened as a result of the complexity of new products, which the providers understand much more than the customers, and which as a result profit the former to the detriment of the latter. The resulting profits are the source of the excessive remuneration achieved in financial services, which in turn has led to the increasing inequality seem in society at large.
I have an article on this theme just published in Juncture, the online journal of the Institute for Public Policy Research