by Jeff Sovern Mark Bittman has an interesting column in today’s Times, My Dream Food Label, describing how his ideal food label would use traffic lights–green, yellow, or red– to signal qualities such as the healthfulness of the food. Though Bittman doesn’t mention the health department restaurant grading system, which uses letter grades, it’s a […]
Author Archives: Jeff Sovern
Oren Bar-Gill has written Seduction by Contract: Law, Economics and Psychology in Consumer Markets (Oxford University Press 2012). The Introduction is available here. Here's the abstract: Consumers routinely enter into contracts with providers of goods and services. These contracts are designed by sophisticated sellers to exploit the psychological biases of consumers. They provide short-term benefits, while imposing […]
Chunlin Leonhard of Loyola University New Orleans has written The Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Economic Checks and Balances, Banking & Financial Services Policy Report, June 2012, at 15. Here's the abstract: This article examines contract law’s role in the subprime mortgage crisis, specifically in the way that the laissez faire paradigm of traditional contract law […]
You can read a New York Law Journal report here. Wright is a professor at George Mason. The article highlights his devotion to Chicago-school economics and reports that he rejects the use of behavioral economics in antitrust. The article also opines that if Governor Romney wins the presidency, Wright would be a potential FTC Chairman. […]
by Jeff Sovern Yesterday I posted a special report on voting on consumer protection issues. I have been asked to remove the post to avoid the appearance of intervening in a political campaign. Accordingly, I have removed the post and do not plan to post the follow-up posts I had promised until after the election.
Judith L. Fox of Notre Dame has written How Forum Determines Substance in Judicial Debt Collection, 31 Banking and Financial Services Rev. 11 (August 2012). Here's the abstract: In an email to the Small Claims Task Force, a committee appointed by the Indiana Supreme Court to investigate allegations of abuse in the Marion County Small […]
Here. It might serve for a series of slides for those teaching consumer law.
Bair has a new book out, and so has been the subject of some media attention. CNN/Money interviewed her and among the questions was an exchange about the CFPB. Her reply: I support the Bureau, and I also strongly endorse it in the book. And I think they’re doing a good job. I am, if […]
The short version, coauthored with John DeStefano, is at HuffPo. Here's an excerpt: CIRC is a system for scoring local banks on a variety of issues that are important to consumers, like the amount banks charge their customers to open and maintain accounts, the location of their local branches and ATMs, and the nature and extent […]
Paige Marta Skiba of Vanderbilt, Marieke Bos of Stockholm University – Swedish Institute for Social Research and Susan Carter of the United States Military Academy have written The Pawn Industry and Its Customers: The United States and Europe. Here's the abstract: As humankind’s oldest financial institution, pawnbroking has served the financial needs of low-income families […]