Ron Elwood has written The Verdict Is in: Payday Lending Is Guilty as Charged, Clearinghouse Review: the Journal of Poverty Law & Policy. Here's the abstract:
The payday loan is symptomatic of the failure to provide access to reasonably priced credit. By understanding the fallacies in the arguments used to justify payday loans, advocates can help reform laws so that payday-loan borrowers do not fall into a debt trap. Advocates and policymakers might also set the stage for a new system that offers short-term, small-amount credit at reasonable terms.
(HT: Larry Kirsch)