Law and Economics Commons^™

Consumer Litigation Funding: Just Another Form Of Payday Lending?, Paige Marta Skiba, Jean Xiao

Paige Marta Skiba

This article provides a side-by-side comparison of payday lending and consumer litigation funding in order to aid policymakers. Funding has similarities with payday lending because they are both alternative financial services, involve high interest rates, and cater to customers who need money for living expenses. However, they differ in ways that regulators should recognize. Many justify bans on payday lending by pointing to the fact that millions of borrowers every year are getting stuck in an inescapable cycle of interest payments. While legal finance has real costs, funding’s nonrecourse nature prevents consumers from getting stuck in a cyclical repayment of …

Countercyclical Regulation And Its Challenges

Patricia A. McCoy

Dealing With Dirty Deeds: Matching Nemo Dat Preferences With Property Law Pragmatism, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

The Law And Economics Of Consumer Debt Collection And Its Regulation, Todd J. Zywicki

Todd J. Zywicki

This article reviews the law and economics of consumer debt collection and its regulation a topic that has taken on added urgency in light of the announcement by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that it is considering new regulations on the subject. Although stricter regulation of permissible debt collection practices can benefit those consumers who are in default and increase demand for credit by consumers, overly-restrictive regulation will result in higher interest rates and less access to credit for consumers, especially higher-risk consumers. Regulation of particular practices may also have the unintended consequence of providing incentives for creditors to more …

Health Care And The Balance Billing Problem: The Solution Is The Common Law Of Contracts And Strengthening The Free Market For Health Care., George A. Nation Iii

George A Nation III

A large and growing group of insured patients is being unfairly burdened by hospitals’ exorbitant chargemaster prices. The burden is brought to bear on these patients through a process known as balance billing. For a variety of reasons hospital networks are becoming narrower as hospital systems contract with fewer insurers, and as a result, more and more patients are receiving balance bills. The practice of balance billing puts upward pressure on health care prices in general. That is, this practice leads to higher prices across the board for the uninsured, the out-of-network insured and even the in-network insured. This article …

The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan

Trevor J Calligan

No abstract provided.

Consumer Protection Initiatives In The Eu Mortgage Market: A Behavioral Economics Based Critique And Proposal, 25 Temp. Int'l & Comp. L.J. 1 (2011), Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin

Debra Pogrund Stark

No abstract provided.

Does Fraud Pay? An Empirical Analysis Of Attorney's Fees Provisions In Consumer Fraud Statutes, 56 Clev. St. L. Rev. 483 (2008), Debra Pogrund Stark, Jessica M. Choplin

Debra Pogrund Stark

No abstract provided.

Análisis Económico De Las Sanciones Administrativas En El Derecho De La Competencia Y Del Consumo, Camilo Ossa

Camilo Ossa

Encontrará el lector una revisión de un aspecto puntual relacionado con la posibilidad que investigaciones originadas por infracciones al consumidor puedan ser sancionadas vía competencia, con el fin de aprovechar el mayor valor de la sanción, de lo cual se hará una revisión de los aspectos jurídicos que ello implica, además de una propuesta, utilizando herramientas del Análisis Económico del Derecho, que nos puede llevar a convertir una una sanción que se cree “pequeña” en eficiente, siendo óptima para el cumplimiento del fin propuesto en la misma ley. Son dos aspectos puntuales relacionados, primero, con la parte teórica que hay …

Dirty Debts Sold Dirt Cheap, Dalie Jimenez

Dalie Jimenez

More than 77 million Americans have a debt in collections. Many of these debts will be sold to debt buyers for pennies, or fractions of pennies, on the dollar. This Article details the perilous path that debts travel as they move through the collection ecosystem. Using a unique dataset of 84 consumer debt purchase and sale agreement, it examines the manner in which debts are sold, oftentimes as simple data on a spreadsheet, devoid of any documentary evidence. It finds that in many contracts, sellers disclaim all warranties about the underlying debts sold or the information transferred. Sellers also sometimes …

The Law And Economics Of Microfinance, Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Katherine Helen Mary Hunt

Financial inclusion may be jargon which appeals to international donors and academics, but the strategic implementation in developing countries is often based on international du jour priorities, such as microfinance. The topic of microfinance is highly debated in the academic literature, although little empirical work has been published. Further, no literature to date has considered microfinance from a law and economics perspective. This paper seeks to contribute to the gap in the literature by considering how microfinance has evolved to address the credit market failure, and how microfinance regulation should be designed to promote long term financial inclusion via financially …

Intermediaries Revisited: Is Efficient Certification Consistent With Profit Maximization?, Jonathan M. Barnett

Jonathan M Barnett

Private certification mechanisms are a key component of the regulatory infrastructure in the financial sector and other commercial settings. It is generally assumed that certification intermediaries have profit-based incentives to deliver accurate information to the certified market. But this view does not account for repeated failures in certification markets. Those failures can be explained by an inherent defect in the incentive structure of certification intermediaries: entry barriers both support and undermine the consistent supply of accurate information to the certified market. Certification markets tend to converge on a handful of providers protected by switching costs, product opacity and reputational noise. …

Sacred Cows, Holy Wars: Exploring The Limits Of Law In The Regulation Of Raw Milk And Kosher Meat, Kenneth Lasson

Kenneth Lasson

SACRED COWS, HOLY WARS Exploring the Limits of Law in the Regulation of Raw Milk and Kosher Meat By Kenneth Lasson Abstract In a free society law and religion seldom coincide comfortably, tending instead to reflect the inherent tension that often resides between the two. This is nowhere more apparent than in America, where the underlying principle upon which the first freedom enunciated by the Constitution’s Bill of Rights is based ‒ the separation of church and state – is conceptually at odds with the pragmatic compromises that may be reached. But our adherence to the primacy of individual rights …

What Do We Worry About When We Worry About Price Discrimination? The Law And Ethics Of Using Personal Information For Pricing, Akiva A. Miller

Akiva A Miller

New information technologies have dramatically increased sellers’ ability to engage in retail price discrimination. Debates over using personal information for price discrimination frequently treat it as a single problem, and are not sufficiently sensitive to the variety of price discrimination practices, the different kinds of information they require in order to succeed, and the different ethical concerns they raise. This paper explores the ethical and legal debate over regulating price discrimination facilitated by consumers’ personal information. Various kinds of “privacy remedies”—self-regulation, technological fixes, state regulation, and legislating private causes of legal action—each have their place. By drawing distinctions between various …

Efficient Breach In The Common European Sales Law (Cesl), Wenqing Liao

Wenqing Liao

In the classic economic theory, it is suggested that contract law should be structured in such a way that efficient breaches (i.e. those increasing social welfare) would be promoted. The default remedy of expectation damages was justified on this cognition. Nowadays, more and more suspects and critiques are raised against the so called simple efficient breach model. The aim of this paper is to re-sketch the theory of efficient breach and to compare the consequences resulting from economic analysis with the remedy rules of the Common European Sales Law (CESL). It is proposed that the doctrine of efficient breach has …

Comentarios En Torno Al Ámbito Subjetivo Del Nuevo Estatuto Del Consumidor En Colombia, Entre La Técnica Y La Idoneidad (Comments About The Subjective Scope Of The New Consumer Protection Act In Colombia, Between The Technique And The Suitability), Jesús A. Soto

Jesús Alfonso Soto Pineda

El artículo analiza la intencionalidad adherida al acto de consumo y el elemento subjetivo de la relación, con el objetivo de determinar el ámbito de aplicabilidad del Estatuto del consumidor en Colombia, Ley 1480 de 2011. Identificando un compendio de caracteres que reducen la aplicación de la norma de acuerdo al objetivo privado perseguido por las partes con la celebración de un acto. Evaluando igualmente la relación que ahora parece existir, –gracias al texto adherido al Estatuto– entre las normas de consumo y el ejercicio de profesiones liberales.

The article analyses the motives attached to the act of consumption and …

Licensure Of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case For Abolition, Charles H. Baron

Charles H. Baron

While state medical licensure laws ostensibly are intended to promote worthwhile goals, such as the maintenance of high standards in health care delivery, this Article argues that these laws in practice are detrimental to consumers. The Article takes the position that licensure contributes to high medical care costs and stifles competition, innovation and consumer autonomy. It concludes that delicensure would expand the range of health services available to consumers and reduce patient dependency, and that these developments would tend to make medical practice more satisfying to consumers and providers of health care services.

Snopa And The Ppa: Do You Know What It Means For You? If Snopa (Social Networking Online Protection Act) Or Ppa (Password Protection Act) Do Not Pass, The Snooping Could Cause You Trouble, Angela Goodrum

Angela Goodrum

No abstract provided.

Standard Contract Clauses As Public Goods: A New Way Of Understanding Inefficient Clauses, Enrico Baffi

enrico baffi

The aim of this work is to show how it is possible to identify market failures other than those traditionally identified by lawyers and law and economics scholars to justify the mandatory provisions of contracts between professionals and consumers and the equally mandatory provisions governing the abuse of economic dependency. This is a new approach that can be extended to other provisions and appears to rest on fairly solid microeconomic foundations. There is no doubt, however, that many criticisms can be leveled against it. Very briefly, I shall argue that the production of clauses characterized by being rather vague, indeterminate …

Dodd-Frank Act And Remittances To Post-Conflict Countries: The Law Of Unintended Consequences Strikes Again, Raymond Natter

Raymond Natter

The Dodd-Frank Act established a new Federal framework for the regulation of international remittance payments that originate in the U.S. However, the statute and implementing regulations may have the unintended consequence of disrupting the flow of remittance funds to post-conflict nations.

El Registro De Marca De Mala Fe: Entre La Coincidencia Y El Propósito Desleal, Gustavo M. Rodríguez García

Gustavo M. Rodríguez García

No abstract provided.

Sea Changes In Consumer Financial Protection: Stronger Agency And Stronger Laws, Dee Pridgen

Dee Pridgen

This article tracks the rising influence of behavioral economics as a guiding force in consumer protection. The Consumer Financial Protection Agency, formed by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, is a new and stronger agency for consumers. Two pieces of legislation, the Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act (Title XIV of Dodd-Frank), and the Credit Card Accountability , Responsibility and Disclosure Act (Credit CARD Act) of 2009, are stronger laws ensuring the safety of consumer financial products. This article examines the new agency and the new laws, explains how they differ from the prior governmental …

La Mise En Oeuvre De La Directive 2005/29/Ce Sur Les Pratiques Commerciales Déloyales : Les Consommateurs Vulnerables Sont-Ils Suffisamment Protégés?, Luis González Vaqué

Luis González Vaqué

Directive 2005/29/EC approximates the laws of the Member States on unfair commercial practices, including unfair advertising, which directly harm consumers' economic interests and thereby indirectly harm the economic interests of legitimate competitors. In order to ease the application and interpretation of this Directive, the European Commission has published the following documents: the Communication to the European Parliament, the Council and the European Economic and Social Committee “On the application of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive: Achieving a high level of consumer protection - Building trust in the Internal Market”; and the First Report on the application of Directive 2005/29/EC of …

Capitalización De Intereses Y Cierre De La Cuenta Corriente Bancaria, Martin Paolantonio

Martin Paolantonio

Se analiza la cuestión a propósito de un caso que llegó incluso a la Corte Suprema de Justicia de la Nación. Esencialmente, el tema pasa por la interpretación de la norma que autoriza la capitalización de intereses, sin una referencia expresa a su vigencia luego del cierre de la cuenta corriente bancaria.

La Calidad De Los Productos En El Marco Del Estatuto Del Consumidor En Colombia: Aproximación Crítica Desde La Teoría Microeconómica., Daniel Monroy

Daniel A Monroy C

El presente escrito presenta una aproximación crítica al Estatuto del Consumidor en Colombia (Ley 1480 de 2011), específicamente en lo relacionado con la definición y la aplicación del término “calidad” de los productos especificado en la misma norma, haciendo uso para los efectos de algunas premisas y criterios normativos deducibles de la teoría microeconómica. El documento demuestra que, si bien en varios aspectos, la aproximación jurídica que se le da a la noción de “calidad” se alinea adecuadamente con ciertos criterios deducibles de la teoría económica, en otros aspectos entra en contradicción con la misma, particularmente por el hecho que …

El Derecho Al Trato Justo, A La Equidad Y A La Educación Financiera De Los Consumidores, Jose R. Nina Cuentas

Jose R. Nina Cuentas

Tema de Protección del Usuario Financiero en la Contratación de Créditos de Consumo.

La Transparencia En La Protección De Datos Personales, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

La Transparencia en la Protección de Datos Personales, ponencia elaborada dentro de los trabajos del VII Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autónomos (OPAM)

The Alternative Forms Of Dispute Settlement And The Essential Difference Between These And Arbitration, Michael Diathesopoulos

Michael Diathesopoulos

The paper examines the characteristics of some common alternative forms of dispute settlement and their key differences from arbitration regarding their nature and scope. Its purpose is to explore each mechanism's suitability for specific types of disputes.

La Noción De Consumidor En El Código De Protección Y Defensa Del Consumidor, David García

David García

This work contains a legal analysis of the notion of consumer in the Peruvian law

Aspectos Generales Dela Publicidad En México. "La Publicidad De Productos, Servicios, Y Actividades Reguladas Por La Ley General De Salud", Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Introducción a las generalidades de la regulación en materia de publicidad de insumos para el consumo humano (salud) en México.