Interesting new piece in the Yale Law Journal Online reporting on eye-fixation experiments. Here’s the abstract: This Essay examines three experiments that tracked eye fixations as participants reviewed home-loan disclosure forms. The experiments revealed confirmation biases in which participants read to confirm what they were told (e.g., “Your loan is at 4%”) and then failed […]
David Adam Friedman of Willamette has written Micropaternalism, forthcoming in the Tulane Law Review. Here is the abstract: In this Article, I have created a theory of “micropaternalism” to capture the essence of a unique regulatory dynamic. As I define it, micropaternalism describes when policymakers paternalistically regulate a narrow area, thereby provoking public debate […]
A recent post from Brian Leiter's blong, "Law School Reports": So which areas of law deserve more attention in the legal academy? The results of our earlier poll, with over 200 votes cast: 1. Consumer Law (Condorcet winner: wins contests with all other choices) 2. Energy Law/Natural Resources Law/Water Law loses to Consumer Law by 109–73 3. Employment Law […]
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has already issued a rule governing international money transfers. Apparently, it is looking into doing more, and it wants to hear from consumers about any problems they have had with electronic money transfers. Consumers can go here to submit a money transfer complaint. The agency has identified these potential problem topics: […]
by Jeff Sovern As is well known, opponents of consumer financial protection regulation often argue that the regulation will reduce the availability of credit and raise its price. Despite such claims and the increased consumer credit regulation in 2009''s Crerdit CARD Act and 2010's Dodd-Frank Act, today's NY Times reports Rising Bank Profits Tempt a […]
by Paul Alan Levy Richard Radey, the President of Med Express, has published a comment on my previous article about his company, apologizing for the lawsuit filed against Amy Nicholls, claiming that the wording of the lawsuit violated his express instructions to his lawyer, James Amodio, and promising that he had instructed his lawyer to […]
The FTC yesterday put out a request for comment on the consumer privacy and security issues posed by the "Internet of Things." As the FTC explains: The ability of everyday devices to communicate with each other and with people is becoming more prevalent and often is referred to as "The Internet of Things." Consumers already […]
Joel Langdon of Emory has writen The Importance of a Promise: Underwater Mortgages and a Municipal Rescue Attempt Through Eminent Domain, forthcoming in 45 Urb. L. (Summer 2013). Here's the abstract: Millions of Americans purchased real estate during the housing bubble of the mid 2000s, when prices reflected a constant upward trend, and real estate […]
M. Todd Henderson of Chicago has written Self-Regulation for the Mortgage Industry. Here's the abstract: This Article proposes an alternative to direct government regulation of mortgage brokers: self-regulation of the mortgage industry that mimics the arguably successful self-regulation of the securities industry that has occurred over the past two centuries. Although not without its problems, […]