Category Archives: Uncategorized

Do consumer-law violations (or “inefficiencies”) account for 10% or more of what consumers spend?

And would correcting these inefficiencies reduce income and wealth inequality? Read Consumer Law As Tax Alternative by Rory Van Loo to try to find out. Here's the abstract: The law and economics paradigm has traditionally emphasized tax and transfer as the best way to achieve distributional goals. This Article explores an alternative. Well-designed consumer laws—defined as the […]

Can a standard clause in a settlement agreement be subject to the Consumer Review Fairness Act?

by Paul Alan Levy After the Freehold Animal Hospital botched the neutering of a consumer’s dog, requiring the consumer to pay thousands of dollars for corrective surgery by a different hospital, the animal hospital agreed to refund the cost of its services as well as covering the expense of the corrective surgery, but only if […]

Senator Warren presses CFPB for details on freeze of data collection

Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday sent a letter addressed to Mick Mulvaney, as Director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Leandra English, as Acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, expressing concern about Mulvaney's decision to freeze the collection of consumer data by the CFPB. On December 4th, citing concerns by the […]

Nebraska introduces pro-net neutrality legislation

The Hill reports that Nebraska is the first Republican-controlled state to launch its own attempt to save net neutrality rules. On Friday, state Sen. Adam Morfeld (D) introduced legislation in the state legislature to enshrine net neutrality regulations in law on the state level. Morfeld’s bill would keep broadband providers like AT&T and Comcast from […]

“2017 marked a year of tearing down consumer protections ‘brick by brick'”

From the LA Times: If … you think government has a role to play in ensuring fair play by companies that have shown themselves to be guided almost exclusively by self-interest and a disregard for consumers and public welfare, this year has been nothing short of horrendous. And 2018 doesn't look much better. The Trump […]

ABA Announces Paid Consumer Protection Fellowship for Law Students to Work in AG’s Offices Over the Summer

From the announcement: The Janet D. Steiger Fellowship Project provides law students the extraordinary opportunity to work in the consumer protection departments of state and territorial Offices of Attorneys General and other consumer protection agencies throughout the United States. The eight to ten week paid Fellowships were initiated in 2004 by the ABA Section of […]

Economic Inquiry: Call for Papers for Consumer Protection Economics Symposium

We've received the following Call for Papers: Economic Inquiry is excited to announce a Symposium on the Economics of Consumer Protection. The goal of this symposium is to create a unique reference on consumer protection economics topics that would (a) synthesize what is known about the current state of economic analyses of consumer protection law enforcement and policy, […]