Sky Blog
Consumer protection laws face a fundamental enforcement issue: Because consumer claims are typically for small amounts, and litigation is expensive, it rarely makes economic sense for consumers to litigate their claims individually. Partly to deal with this problem, lawmakers created …
Despite an increasing focus on corporations that profit from social injustices and misconduct, governments and international agencies have had limited success in addressing these issues. Advocates for change suggest that stakeholders, particularly retail consumers, could help, given that their purchasing …
On April 3, 2023, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued a policy statement regarding what constitutes an “abusive” act or practice (the “Policy Statement”).[1] The Policy Statement outlines the CFPB’s approach to analyzing whether an act or practice …
Distressed firms may avoid an otherwise beneficial Chapter 11 reorganization because they fear losing customers. In our recent paper, we use two experiments to estimate the effect of corporate bankruptcy on consumer demand for a bankrupt firm’s products. We …
Companies will not survive Covid-19 unless they communicate with their stakeholders. As the world around them transforms, corporate leaders must welcome input from those on the front lines of corporate activity – primarily employees and consumers, but also local communities, …
In early 2009, with the financial crisis still raging, progressive policymakers passed legislation upending the credit card industry. This legislation precluded card issuers from changing interest rates without sufficient warning or charging exorbitant late fees. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, who sponsored …
BlackRock, the vast asset manager, has been feted for demanding that the boards of its portfolio firms pursue a social purpose, which likely entails spreading corporate profits beyond shareholders to include labor and victims of environmental harm.[1] But despite …
The Dodd-Frank Act charged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau with ensuring that consumers “understand the costs, benefits, and risks” associated with financial products and services. Despite this ambitious mandate, and despite the Bureau’s self-branding as a “21st century agency,” the …
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the “CFPB” or “Bureau”) recently issued its final policy statement (the “Policy Statement”) enabling consumers to post on the CFPB’s web-based public consumer complaint database (the “Database”) complaints about consumer financial services in …