Showing archive for: “Payments & Payment Networks”
The Durbin Fee
Given the crucial role debit card “swipe” fees played in causing the recent financial crisis, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin insisted that the Dodd-Frank law (you know, the one that left Fannie and Freddie untouched) impose price controls on debit card transactions. Ben Bernanke, who apparently doesn’t have enough on his plate, was tasked with determining banks’ processing and fraud-related costs ... The Durbin Fee
Organizing Economists at the CFPB
With the recent announcement of Sendhil Mullainathan as the Assistant Director for Research at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (WSJ profile here), while one turns to the question of how economic input will be incorporated into agency decision-making. Luke Froeb makes a nice point about the organization of economists in administrative agencies: The FTC, which ... Organizing Economists at the CFPB
Proposed Privacy Legislation
The Obama Administration is advocating a privacy bill. One provision will limit the use of data to the purpose for which it was collected unless a consumer gives permission for additional uses; another will give consumers increased rights to access information about themselves. Both of these provisions may actually reduce safety of data online. One additional purpose for which ... Proposed Privacy Legislation
Comment to the Federal Reserve Board on Regulation II: Where’s the Competitive Impact Analysis?
I have submitted a comment to the Federal Reserve Board concerning Regulation II, along with the American Enterprise Institute’s Alex Brill, Christopher DeMuth, Alex J. Pollock, and Peter Wallison, as well as my George Mason colleague Todd Zywicki. Regulation II implements the interchange fee provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The comment makes a rather straightforward ... Comment to the Federal Reserve Board on Regulation II: Where’s the Competitive Impact Analysis?
The FTC and Debarment as an Antitrust Sanction
As a result of the FTC’s “Operation Short Change,” a number of firms and individuals have settled claims that they swindled millions from consumers by making unauthorized charges and debits to their bank accounts. The FTC press release highlights that, in addition to a $2.08 million fine (judgment suspended due to bankruptcy filing), the FTC ... The FTC and Debarment as an Antitrust Sanction
Alternative careers in law
Conventional law jobs might be getting harder to find, but there are alternatives, as I noted in my work-in-process with Bruce Kobayashi described here. Recent news stories suggest the range of options. Financing divorce cases Here’s the NYT story about Balance Point Divorce Funding, with more from Christine. As the Times story notes, this is ... Alternative careers in law
Erin O’Hara on The Free Market Side of Behavioral Law and Economics
Behavioral law and economics (“BLE”) can influence legal policy analysis and regulation in many ways. On balance, it is not at all clear that this new paradigm undermines a policy commitment to markets. From one vantage point, the BLE movement can be said to help preserve markets. Importantly, those using the paradigm often start with ... Erin O’Hara on The Free Market Side of Behavioral Law and Economics
Richard Epstein on The Dangerous Allure of Behavioral Economics: The Relationship between Physical and Financial Products
Richard A. Epstein is the Laurence A. Tisch Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, The Peter and Kirsten Bedford Senior Fellow, The Hoover Institution, and the James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, The University of Chicago. Few academic publications have had as much direct public influence on the law as ... Richard Epstein on The Dangerous Allure of Behavioral Economics: The Relationship between Physical and Financial Products
Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
The idea that the regularity of behavioral departures from full rationality justifies regulatory intervention has rarely gained more credence than in the context of consumer finance. The Credit CARD Act of 2009 rests on nothing so much as the supposition that cardholder decisions about spending and repayment reflect systematic misapprehension of the likely patterns of ... Ronald Mann on Nudging from Debt
Which CFPB Will We Get?
Todd mentions Elizabeth Warren’s “kick off” speech for the CFPB, in which she accepts the new “President and Special Advisor to the Secretary of the Treasury?” gig, and tells us what the new Bureau is all about: The new consumer bureau is based on a pretty simple idea: people ought to be able to read ... Which CFPB Will We Get?
Terrorism Finance Meets Business Associations
Now that TOTM blog traffic is hitting all-time highs, I thought it would be a good time to share a link to my most recently published paper, Terrorism Finance, Business Associations, and the “Incorporation Transparency Act.” It is highly critical of Senator Levin’s “Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act,” over which Senator Levin, Senator Lieberman, ... Terrorism Finance Meets Business Associations
Behavioral Economics and Consumer Financial Protection for “Nitwits”
In a recent NY Times column largely devoted to improving soccer in various ways and how those methods might be used to improve financial regulation as well, behavioral economist and Nudge author Richard Thaler writes the following about the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau: “Above all, I’d urge the head of this agency to devise rules ... Behavioral Economics and Consumer Financial Protection for “Nitwits”
