In Freakonomics, Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner pulled off an extraordinary trick. They took behavioural microeconomics and the intricate mathematical analysis of very large databases and made a bestselling book of it. Levitt's work is genuinely original, pleasingly rooted in empirical research. It deploys an interesting take on models of incentives and disincentives that recognises how diverse and interactive those currencies are. Dubner gave human form, narrative structure and a good dose of gee-whizzery to the unexpected counter-intuitive results that Levitt's analysis revealed.

Lawyers representing Scottish Widows, the Lloyds Banking Group-owned insurer, will on Thursday make their final arguments in Edinburgh's Court of Session in a hearing that could potentially cost the group hundreds of millions in compensation payouts.

Most graduates dread the day when they find themselves wandering the budget supermarket aisles seeking out cheap fortified wine but for Francesca Haynes, 27, it's a dream come true.

The motion of a train loosens the tongue, confides Pozdnyshev, our companion in a railway carriage for the 85 minutes of this extraordinarily compelling stage adaptation of Tolstoy's great, warped novella The Kreutzer Sonata. In Natalie Abrahami's pitch-perfect production at the tiny Gate Theatre, this figure is a kind of bourgeois Russian Ancient Mariner, compelled to re-tell the story of how he murdered his arguably adulterous wife. She may have been playing more than piano with a newly arrived violinist, who had been a childhood friend of Pozdnyshev. Emphasising the subjective nature of the protagonist's testimony, this couple are seen here fitfully illuminated behind a scrim either making music or love in candle-lit flashes that are like the lingering neuralgic throb of an obsession that has survived Pozdnyshev's acquittal for homicide.

US Treasury secretary Timothy Geithner went to Capitol Hill to press Congress to pass the Wall Street reform package that will allow the government to wind up huge financial firms whose uncontrolled collapse would threaten the entire economy. Members of the House of Representatives financial services committee questioned some aspects of the proposals, including the plan to have companies with more than $10bn in assets repay costs to unwind a firm after it fails. “Most of us don’t die and then buy a life insurance policy,” said Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat, saying the funds should be put in place in advance. Mr Geithner said that “would create expectations that the government would step in to protect shareholders and creditors from losses.”

The insurer Aviva is expecting to make €1.2bn (£1.1bn) from the sell-off of a 42 per cent stake in its Dutch insurance business Delta Lloyd.

Rachael Greaves, 25, from Cambridge, wants to get on the property ladder, but is worried about her savings depreciating in the current economic climate. Rachael says: "I want to buy my own home within five years." However, without a clear savings plan, she fears it may not be possible. A £30,000 inheritance in shares from her grandfather may help, but it has slumped in value in the last year. Rachael is therefore concerned about the continued risk of investing.

Aviva is planning a third mass-mailout in a bid to persuade thousands of policyholders to vote on plans to pay out £500m in unclaimed "orphan" assets held in two life insurance funds.

Pearl, the insurer, is believed to have set its sights on Richard Harvey, formerly chief executive at Aviva, as its new chairman.

Aegon, the Dutch insurance giant, announced a €1bn share sale as it revealed its fourth consecutive quarterly loss yesterday, saying it would use the cash to partly repay the €3bn (£2.5bn) of state aid received at the height of the financial crisis last year.