Felix Salmon at Time Magazine took time yesterday to look at what "financial innovation" really means. Salmon looks at financial innovation as merely something to mask the risk associated with new banking tasks. Ezra Klein at the Washington Post looked a bit further into financial innovation, and found it to be something new to the field, whether it be a new ATM machine or a new price for something. Klein also pointed out that innovations in other fields related more around technology, not just a higher price on the good.
What do you think about the definition of financial innovation? Do you agree with the statements of Salmon and Klein above?