Category Archives: Consumer Law Scholarship

Ann Fleming’s Book (And More) on the History of Fringe Finance

Ann Fleming of Georgetown has written a book, City of Debtors: A Century of Fringe Finance. I'm pasting in a blurb below, but first, for those who want to know more about this subject but don't have time to read the book just now, here are some other options. Last fall, Ann wrote a WaPo op-ed about the […]

Dee Pridgen Article: State and Private Enforcement of UDAP Laws

Dee Pridgen of Wyoming has written The Dynamic Duo of Consumer Protection: State and Private Enforcement of Unfair and Deceptive Trade Practices Laws, 81 Antitrust L.J. 911 (2017). Here's the abstract: This article focuses on the critical importance to consumer protection of the “dynamic duo” of state and private enforcement mechanisms provided in state unfair and deceptive […]

Norm Silber on the 50th Anniversary of Caplovitz’s The Poor Pay More

Norman I. Silber of Hofstra has written Discovering that the Poor Pay More: Race Riots, Poverty, and the Rise of Consumer Law, 44 Ford.Urb.L.J. 1319 (2017).  Here is the abstract: David Caplovitz is remembered primarily for his book The Poor Pay More and his writing about poor consumers. This article addresses why this work propelled the reconstruction […]

Loonin/Morgan Article: We Need to Know More to Solve the Federal Student Aid Problem

Deanne Loonin of Harvard University – Hale and Dorr Legal Services Center and Julie Margetta Morgan of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have written Federal Student Aid: Can We Solve a Problem We Do Not Understand?, forthcoming in the Utah Law Review. Here is the abstract: Americans currently owe over $1.3 trillion in student loans, […]

Study Examines Impact of Mortgage Modification Programs

Diana Farrell and Kanav Bhagat, both of JP Morgan Chase, Peter Ganong at the Harris Public Policy School of the University of Chicago, and Pascal Noel of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business have written Mortgage Modifications after the Great Recession: New Evidence and Implications for Policy. Here's the abstract: In the aftermath of […]

Article on Designing Platforms–Like Uber, Airbnb–to Prevent Discrimination

Karen Levy and Solon Barocas of Cornell have written Designing Against Discrimination in Online Markets, 32 Berkeley Technology Law Journal (2018).  Here is the abstract: Platforms that connect users to one another have flourished online in domains as diverse as transportation, employment, dating, and housing. When users interact on these platforms, their behavior may be influenced by preexisting […]

Beyranevand Article: Regulating Inherently Subjective Food Labeling Claims

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 […]

Paper Examines Overdraft Regulation and Markets in US, UK, and Israel

Harvard SJD candidate Aluma Zernik has written When Markets, Consumers and Regulators Collide: Overdrafts in the US, UK and Israel. Here's the abstract: There is a fierce debate in the US about whether to regulate overdrafts and, specifically, about whether overdraft should be limited or prices should be capped. Proponents of regulation claim overdrafts are not […]

Kar and Radin Article: Pseudo-Contract & Shared Meaning Analysis

Robin Bradley Kar of Illinois and Margaret Jane Radin of Toronto and Michigan have written Pseudo-Contract & Shared Meaning Analysis. Here is the abstract: Over the last several decades, courts have struggled with when to enforce boilerplate text as contract. An example is the copious digital text that consumers receive links to before clicking “I agree” […]

Paper on How Firms Can Deliberately Induce Info Overload to Obscure Disclosures

Petra Persson of Stanford University; Research Institute of Industrial Economics has written Attention Manipulation and Information Overload. Here is the abstract: Limits on consumer attention give firms incentives to manipulate prospective buyers' allocation of attention. This paper models such attention manipulation and shows that it limits the ability of disclosure regulation to improve consumer welfare. Competitive […]