Oren Bar-Gill of Harvard and Omri Ben-Shahar of Chicago have written Manipulation by Mislaid Priorities. Here is the abstract: This paper lays a foundation for a new theory of manipulation, based on the misprioritization of (truthful) information. Since consumers review only a subset of all available information, firms can harm consumers by prioritizing information that maximizes […]
Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship
Paolina C. Medina of Texas A&M University and Jose L. Negrin of the Banco de Mexico have written The Hidden Role of Contract Terms: Evidence from Credit Card Minimum Payments in Mexico, Management Science (2021). Here is the abstract: This paper argues that thresholds in financial contracts act as implicit nudges in consumers’ decisions. Exploiting […]
The American Economic Association has a report on the study here. The actual paper, Is No News (Perceived As) Bad News? An Experimental Investigation of Information Disclosure by Ginger Zhe Jin, Michael Luca, & Daniel Martin, is here. Here's the abstract: This paper uses laboratory experiments to directly test a central prediction of disclosure theory: that […]
Andrew Gilden of Willamette has written Endorsing After Death, 63 William & Mary Law Review (2022).Here's the abstract: An endorsement is an act of giving one’s public support to a person, product, service, or cause; accordingly, it might seem impossible for someone to make an endorsement after they have died. Nevertheless, posthumous endorsements have become […]
Michael Simkovic of USC and Meirav Furth of UCLA have written Proportional Contracts, 107 Iowa Law Review, (2021). Here's the abstract: Contract law treats consumer attention as if it were unlimited. We instead view consumer attention as a scarce resource that must be conserved. We argue that consumer contracts generate negative externalities by overwhelming consumers with […]
Prentiss Cox of Minnesota and Christopher Lewis Peterson of Utah have written Public Compensation for Public Enforcement, 39 Yale Journal on Regulation (2022). Here's the abstract: Public enforcement actions frequently result in the distribution of money to people affected by violation of market protection laws. This “public compensation” returns billions of dollars to consumers, investors, and […]
Kevin M. McDonald of VW Credit, Inc. and Washington University School of Law and Kenneth Rojc of Nisen & Elliott, LLC have written Auto Finance Regulators Not Falling Asleep at the Wheel., 76 BUS. LAW. 705 (2021). Here is the abstract: This is the annual survey of major legal and regulatory developments affecting the automobile […]
We received the following call for papers: The 2021 Global Forum for Financial Consumers (GFFC) Organized by International Academy of Financial Consumers (IAFICO) Call for Papers (1st) August 6th ~ 7th, 2021Format: Online & onsite webinarOnsite venue: Seoul National Univ., Seoul, KoreaTheme: Financial Consumer ProtectionLinking Theories & Evidences to Policy Practices The 2021 Global Forum for Financial […]
Craig Cowie of Montana has written Is the CFPB Still on the Beat? The CFPB'S (Non)Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, 82 Mont. L. Rev. 41 (2021). Here's the conclusion: More than ten months into a historic pandemic that has wreaked economic devastation, the CFPB—the primary Federal consumer financial protection regulator that was created in response […]
Howell E. Jackson and Colin Mark, both of Harvard, have written May the Executive Branch Forgive Student Loan Debt Without Further Congressional Action? Here's the abstract: On April 1, 2021, the Biden Administration announced that Secretary of Education Michael Cardona will consider whether the President has legal authority to forgive up to $50,000 per debtor in […]

