by Jeff Sovern The op-ed is here, at Forbes.com. Except that if you want to find out why everything Warren said is wrong, maybe the op-ed wouldn't be the place to look. Here's the lead: Why do people borrow? To hear law professor turned Senator Elizabeth Warren, it is because they are seduced by rapacious […]
Yesterday, the Washington Post endorsed Brian Frosh for Attorney General of Maryland. Among his opponents' weaknesses, according to the Post, is that he "wants to promote arbitration as an alternative to consumers suing businesses." On the other side of the issue, a congressional candidate in Virginia (running for an open seat in the D.C. suburb […]
The legalization of marijunana creates economic winners and losers. One loser is the private prison industry, which is lobbying against legalization, as explained in this article by Kendall Bentsen.
Thomas A. Durkin and Gregory Elliehausen, both of the Fed, and Todd J. Zywicki of George Mason have written An Assessment of Behavioral Law and Economics Contentions and What We Know Empirically About Credit Card Use by Consumers. Here is an abstract: “Behavioral Law and Economics” (BLE) is a specialized component of the legal literature […]
Julia S. Cheney, Robert M. Hunt, Vyacheslav Mikhed, and Dubravka Ritter all of the Philadelphia Fed, have written Identity Theft as a Teachable Moment. Here is the abstract: This paper examines how instances of identity theft that are sufficiently severe to induce consumers to place an extended fraud alert in their credit reports affect their […]
The main story is here, and sidebars on efforts to silence internet critics can be found here (quoting fellow blogger Scott Michelman) and here. An excerpt: [The consumers] agreed to pay $16,600 in principal and interest, with seven years of monthly $195 installments. In return, Sundance promised 30 weeks of "resort area condominium accommodations" in […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced yesterday action against M&T Bank for deceptively advertising free checking accounts. As explained in the CFPB press release: The CFPB found that M&T lured in consumers with promises of “no strings attached” free checking, without disclosing key eligibility requirements. When consumers failed to meet the requirements, M&T automatically […]
Law professor Martin Redish and law student Jullie Karaba think so, as they explain in One Size Doesn't Fit All: Multidistrict Litigation, Due Process, and the Dangers of Procedural Collectivism. Here is the abstract: Panel of federal judges regularly transfers cases which may share no more than one common issue from federal districts all over […]
In defending against federal and state antitrust claims that it monopolized the digital music market, Apple sought to file under seal a variety of information, including its prices, names of other companies, and expert analysis. In a victory for court transparency, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California late last week refused, […]
The Food and Drug Administration has issued this set of materials concerning which over-the-counter drugs impair the user's ability to drive and operate other machinery.