We've received the following Call for Papers: Economic Inquiry is excited to announce a Symposium on the Economics of Consumer Protection. The goal of this symposium is to create a unique reference on consumer protection economics topics that would (a) synthesize what is known about the current state of economic analyses of consumer protection law enforcement and policy, […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
by Jeff Sovern As others, including Adam Levitin and David Lazarus have pointed out, the CFPB recently modified its description of itself at the bottom of its press releases. Here is the old version: The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is a 21st century agency that helps consumer finance markets work by making rules more effective, […]
The story is headlined Trump's Wells Fargo tweet cited in court hearing as reason to remove Mulvaney as CFPB acting chief. The tweet said Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, […]
The American Banker''s Kate Berry has a report on the hearing here; it is not optimistic about English's chances. Meanwhile, the WSJ has a story headlined The Internal Divide Behind Trump’s Takeover of Consumer Watchdog about how White House conservatives want to dismantle the Bureau while the Treasury sees a role for the Bureau. Mulvaney's appointment is seen […]
by Jeff Sovern Advocates for some positions sometimes block the federal government from researching or supporting research on issues. For example, supporters of gun rights have long had the votes to prevent the government from obtaining data about gun safety. See, e.g., Newsweek's report titled THE GOVERNMENT WON'T FUND RESEARCH ON GUN VIOLENCE BECAUSE OF […]
Laurie J. Beyranevand of Vermont has written Regulating Inherently Subjective Food Labeling Claims, 37 Environmental Law 543 (2017). Here is the abstract: For many consumers, the modern food label serves as the sole source of information regarding any individual food product. While it may be considered informative in some respects, it is often enigmatic in others. The present […]
According to a report by the Urban Institute. The report breaks down the data by county and other demographic data. AccountsRecovery.Net has a story here. Nearly half of consumers in Louisiana have a debt in collection.
by Jeff Sovern The tweet reads: Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo Bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped, as has incorrectly been reported, but will be pursued and, if anything, substantially increased. I will cut Regs but make penalties severe when caught cheating! If the CFPB continued […]
by Jeff Sovern The old Soviet Union assigned political officers, called zampoliti, to military units to monitor the units for political correctness, as the Soviets defined it, among other purposes. According to an American Banker article authored by Kevin Wack, Mulvaney's plan to embed political staffers in CFPB sparks backlash, the purported Acting CFPB Director, Mick […]