Shorter domain name ranking advantage?

Do SE's favour shorter domain names?

[zulu_dude]

It's generally accepted (I think!) that older domain names have a slight edge when it comes to being ranked in the SE's. Whether this is because of naturally accumulated backlinks or some other part of the algorithm, I'm not sure. I suppose (from the perspective of an SE), older domain names are less likely to be spammy and more likely to contain useful information.

Anyways, what are the chances that the SE's use domain name length as a ranking factor as well?

If you think about it logically, the shorter domain names are, the more expensive they are (generally). Thus they're not exactly disposable, which makes them less attractive to spammers and more likely to contain useful info (and thus be ranked higher).

Any thoughts?

[Webwork]

Shorter is not a factor.

Exact keyword, which would meet your criteria of "shorter", is likely a factor but only in context or connection with 100 other factors.