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Full-Text Articles in Law
A Psychological Account Of Consent To Fine Print, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan
A Psychological Account Of Consent To Fine Print, Tess Wilkinson-Ryan
All Faculty Scholarship
The moral and social norms that bear on contracts of adhesion suggest a deep ambivalence. Contracts are perceived as serious moral obligations, and yet they must be taken lightly or everyday commerce would be impossible. Most people see consent to boilerplate as less meaningful than consent to negotiated terms, but they nonetheless would hold consumers strictly liable for both. This Essay aims to unpack the beliefs, preferences, assumptions, and biases that constitute our assessments of assent to boilerplate. Research suggests that misgivings about procedural defects in consumer contracting weigh heavily on judgments of contract formation, but play almost no role …
Banking And The Social Contract, Mehrsa Baradaran
Banking And The Social Contract, Mehrsa Baradaran
Scholarly Works
This article asserts that there exists today and has always existed an interdependent relationship between banks and the state. I refer to this connection and its mutual benefits and responsibilities as a social contract. When Alexander Hamilton responded to President Washington’s inquiry about the advisability of a national bank, he wrote that “such a Bank is not a mere matter of private property, but a political machine of the greatest importance to the State.” This social contract has existed since the inception of banking in the United States and has been reinforced over time, but it has recently become weakened …
Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz
Secret Consumer Scores And Segmentations: Separating Consumer 'Haves' From 'Have-Nots', Amy J. Schmitz
Faculty Publications
“Big Data” is big business. Data brokers profit by tracking consumers’ information and behavior both on- and offline and using this collected data to assign consumers evaluative scores and classify consumers into segments. Companies then use these consumer scores and segmentations for marketing and to determine what deals, offers, and remedies they provide to different individuals. These valuations and classifications are based on not only consumers’ financial histories and relevant interests, but also their race, gender, ZIP Code, social status, education, familial ties, and a wide range of additional data. Nonetheless, consumers are largely unaware of these scores and segmentations, …
Breaking Up Payday: Anti-Agglomeration Zoning & Consumer Welfare, Sheila R. Foster
Breaking Up Payday: Anti-Agglomeration Zoning & Consumer Welfare, Sheila R. Foster
Faculty Scholarship
In the last decade, dozens of local governments have enacted zoning ordinances designed to limit the concentration of payday lenders and other alternative financial services providers (AFSPs), such as check-cashing businesses and auto title loan shops, in their communities. The main impetus for these ordinances is to shield economically vulnerable residents from the industry’s lending practices in the absence of sufficiently aggressive federal and state consumer protection regulation. This Essay casts considerable doubt on whether zoning is the appropriate regulatory tool to achieve the consumer protection and welfare goals animating these ordinances. The author’s analysis of the aftermath of payday …