At Ballard Spahr’s Consumer Finance Monitor podcast. From the episode description:
Amelia advances a bold thesis in her article: that consumer protection law, and particularly consumer financial protection law, may be the most impactful body of law in the United States. She further argues that the strength of consumer protection laws may serve as a barometer for the health of American democracy.
To support this thesis, Amelia proposes a three-part framework for evaluating the “impact” of a body of law:
1. The number of individuals protected
2. The breadth of entities governed
3. The available avenues for enforcement
Under this framework, Amelia contends that consumer financial protection law stands apart because it affects virtually every American, governs a broad range of financial institutions and market participants, and relies on overlapping enforcement mechanisms that include federal regulators, state attorneys general, and private litigation.
