The Federal Trade Commission yesterday announced the results of an empirical study of companies that are in the business of buying consumer debts and trying to collect on them. The study looked at more than 5,000 portfolios containing nearly 90 million consumer accounts with a face value of $143 billion. In its report, The Structure […]
That's the name of this article by University of Chicago law profs Jonathan Masur and Eric Posner. When a federal regulatory agency proposes a rule–say, a rule seeking to promote product safety or environmental quality–the agency generally does an cost-benefit analysis. It often does a separate analysis of the the rule's effect on employment. In […]
Todd J. Zywicki of George Mason has written The Economics and Regulation of Network Branded Prepaid Cards. Here is the abstract: General-purpose reloadable prepaid cards have been one of the fastest-growing sectors of the consumer payments marketplace in recent years. Their importance has accelerated as a consequence of new regulations enacted in the wake of […]
by Paul Alan Levy Here at the Consumer Law and Policy blog, we worry about the chilling impact of both lawsuits against consumers’ speech and heavy-handed cease-and-desist letters demanding the cessation of such speech, on consumers’ ability to use the comment on business. We regularly discuss these situations, and at Public Citizen we often represent […]
Last week, Paul Levy posted about the NAACP's amicus brief supporting the soft-drink industry in its opposition to the New York City rules barring the sale of large sugary drinks. Paul thought that there was a link between the NAACP's position and the large amounts of money it takes from the Coca-Cola Company. Hazel Dukes, […]
By Steve Gardner, Center for Science in the Public Interest My most-excellent colleague at CSPI, Erika Knudsen, wrote a great piece for CSPI's Food Day blog. Check it out. It's a great read overall, and as an extra added bonus, it includes a link to a recent Colbert Report segment mocking Coke for Vitaminwater. Spoiler alert–the […]
by Paul Bland, Public Justice Consumer and plaintiffs' lawyers know that there have been a long string of cases where the Supreme Court has enforced arbitration clauses. In the course of doing that, though, the Court has always said that enforcing arbitration clauses won’t cause any harm, because (the Court has insisted and promised) arbitration […]
A fascinating and troubling story from NPR this morning about Americans with little or no savings is worth a listen (or read) to get a sense of many Americans' financial vulnerability. Here's the opening: In his inaugural address, President Obama talked about a country where even "a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows […]
Legal reporter Jenna Greene says here that "[t]The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was dealt a devastating—if indirect—blow last week, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board were invalid." That remains to be seen, as the D.C. Circuit likely won't have the […]
by Deepak Gupta Since at least 2009, this blog has covered (e.g. here and here) the long-running saga of American Express v. Italian Colors, an antitrust dispute that raises fundamental questions about the limits of federal arbitration jurisprudence. The case, now before the Supreme Court, presents the question whether an arbitration clause should be enforced […]