Scott Savage and Donald M. Waldman , both of the University of Colorado at Boulder – Department of Economics, have written The Value of Online Privacy. Here is the abstract: We estimate the value of online privacy with a differentiated products model of the demand for Smartphone apps. We study the apps market because it […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
We've been asked to post the following RFP: Suffolk Law School and the National Consumer Law Center are convening a Research Symposium on Student Loans in Boston on April 10th and 11th. The goal of the Symposium, which is invitation-only, is to bring together the nation’s top experts, including academics, attorneys, industry representatives, consumer advocates, […]
by Jeff Sovern Recently I heard an industry lawyer say that to know what regulators will do next, you should listen to consumer advocates. The only individual consumer advocate he mentioned was Peter Holland. So what is Peter Hollland calling for? He wants debt buyers, when suing a consumer, to disclose the agreement they entered into to […]
Shauhin A. Talesh of Irvin has written How the 'Haves' Come Out Ahead in the Twenty-First Century, 62 De Paul Law Review .519 (2013). Here is the abstract: This paper attempts to bridge and link the “speculations” in Marc Galanter’s seminal article in 1974 regarding how repeat players influence public legal institutions by playing for […]
Vikram Jambulapati of MIT's Sloan School of Management and Joanna Stavins of the Boston Fed have written The Credit CARD Act of 2009: What Did Banks Do? Here's the abstract: The Credit CARD Act of 2009 was intended to prevent practices in the credit card industry that lawmakers viewed as deceptive and abusive. Among other changes, […]
Emily Houh and Kristin Kalsem, both of Cincinnati, have written It's Critical: Legal Participatory Action Research, forthcoming in 18 Michigan Journal of Race & Law. Here's the abstract: The ongoing community-based research project that we describe in this article will contribute, we hope, to an understanding of the fringe economy by offering insights into what […]
by Jeff Sovern In the Detroit News. Professor Joseph refers to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau as "purposefully-misnamed," as if members of Congress sat around saying "let's create an agency that will hurt consumers but give it a name that suggests it will protect them." So what does he think is wrong with the Bureau? […]
Wayne Barnes of Texas A&M has wrtiten Social Media and the Rise in Consumer Bargaining Power,14 U. Pa. J. Bus. L. 661 (2012). Here's the abstract: Consumers are constantly entering into form contracts, both offline and online. They do not read most of the terms, but the duty to read says the contracts are nevertheless […]
Robert C. Hockett of Cornell and John Vlahoplus of Mortgage Resolution Partners have written A Federalist Blessing in Disguise: From National Inaction to Local Action on Underwater Mortgages, 7 Harvard Law & Policy Review (2013). Here is the abstract: While it is widely recognized that the mortgage debt overhang left by the housing price bubble […]
by Jeff Sovern I frequently post links to scholars' articles on consumer law issues, including pieces by George Mason's Todd J. Zywicki, like this one. The Nation recently published a piece reporting on professors who also work for Wall Street-funded operations without disclosing that in, as The Nation put it, their "university profile, CV, byline […]