Author Archives: Jeff Sovern

If Bankers Aren’t Worried About the Regulatory Environment, Why is Congress Working on a Bill to Reduce Regulatory Burden for Banks

by Jeff Sovern Politico's Morning Money newsletter reports: BANKERS NOT AS WORRIED BY REGS — At the Consumer Bankers Assoc. annual conference, CBA Live, attendees were asked about their top worries. The regulatory environment was tops from 2012-2016. On Monday it barely cracked four percent. Which of course raises a question about why Congress is working on […]

Dari-Mattiacci & Marotta-Wurgler Paper on How Authors of Standard Form Contracts Learn and Revise Contracts

Giuseppe Dari‐Mattiacci of Amsterdam Law School; Amsterdam Business School; and the Tinbergen Institute and Florencia Marotta-Wurgler of NYU have written Learning in Standard Form Contracts: Theory and Evidence.  Here is the abstract: We explore learning and change in standard form contracts. We hypothesize that drafters (sellers) are more likely to revise the terms they offer when […]

Report That Companies Include Provisions in Arbitration Clause that They Know the Arbitrator Won’t Enforce–But That Might Suppress Claims Even More

by Jeff Sovern Level Playing Field is reporting that companies include in their arbitration clauses provisions that AAA, their arbitration service, has informed them have to be waived, meaning AAA won't enforce them. The clauses in question may deter consumers, who don't know that they won't be enforced, from bringing the arbitration at all. For […]

Study: Color and Credit: Race, Regulation, and the Quality of Financial Services

Taylor A. Begley of Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis and Amiyatosh Purnanandam of Ross School of Business, University of Michigan have written Color and Credit: Race, Regulation, and the Quality of Financial Services. Here is the abstract: The incidence of mis-selling, fraud, and poor customer service by retail banks is significantly higher in markets […]

WaPo: Trump is systematically backing off consumer protections, to the delight of corporations

Here.  Excerpt: “There hasn’t been a lot that has been methodical about this presidency, but I do think Trump is systematically dismantling consumer protections,” said Mark Totten, a Michigan State University law professor who studies the enforcement of consumer protection laws and a 2014 Democratic candidate for Michigan attorney general. The new direction affects agencies […]

Horton Empirical Study of How Arbitrators and Judges Decide Differently on Whether to Allow Class Actions

David Horton of California, Davis has written Clause Construction: A Glimpse into Judicial and Arbitral Decision-Making, Duke Law Journal, Vol. 68, Forthcoming. Here is the abstract: For decades, the U.S. Supreme Court has insisted that forcing a plaintiff to arbitrate — rather than allowing her to litigate — does not affect the outcome of a dispute. […]

Mulvaney’s Evisceration of the CFPB Continues in Multiple Ways

by Jeff Sovern The CFPB protects consumers in a number of ways. Perhaps the three most important things it does are enforce the law, supervise some financial institutions, and create rules.  A less important mechanism, but still important, is maintaining its complaint database. All of these seem to be coming under attack under Interim director […]

Hyman & Kovacic Article on Who Should Do What on Privacy

David A. Hyman of Georgetown and William E. Kovacic of GW and , King's College London – The Dickson Poon School of Law have written Implementing Privacy Policy: Who Should Do What?. Here's the abstract: Academic scholarship on privacy has focused on the substantive rules and policies governing the protection of personal data. An extensive literature […]

Article on How Different Countries Regulate Food Advertising to Children

Belinda Reeveand Roger Magnusson, both of The University of Sydney Law School have written Regulation of Food Advertising to Children in Six Jurisdictions: A Framework for Analyzing and Improving the Performance of Regulatory Instruments, 35 Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law (2018).  Here is the abstract: Childhood obesity is a public health crisis, and globally, […]