In 2013, the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released a database of consumer complaints filed against banks under its supervision (“CFPB banks”). We find that after the disclosure, rival banks exhibit a greater increase in mortgage approval rates in markets with more intensive...

The paper deals with impulsive consumption and highlights the roles that cognitive and motivational aspects of reflexive thought (namely self-control and self-image motives, respectively) play in intertemporal decisions. While self-control inhibits individuals from consuming impulsively,...

Catastrophes including the COVID19 pandemic of 2019-2020 impose great financial stress on consumers. This op-ed proposes the distribution of economic relief directly to consumers by authorizing credit card issuers to bill Congress for portions of the interest that otherwise would be charged to...

Since the 1990s, the development of Consumer Alternative Dispute Resolution (CADR) schemes allowing consumers and traders to solve their disputes out-of-court has been an ever-growing phenomenon with increasing political importance at the European level. The EU regulatory framework for CADR...

The financial crisis exposed major fault lines in banking and financial markets more broadly. Policymakers responded with far-reaching regulation that created a new agency—the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau—and changed the structure and function of these markets. Consumer advocates...

Recent advances in advertising technology have lead to the development of “native advertising”, which is a format of advertising that mimics the other non-sponsored content on the medium. While advertisers have rapidly embraced the format on a variety of digital media, regulators have...

We argue that in order for consumption tax reduction to be effective in increasing consumer wealth rather than benefitting suppliers, the tax field is insufficient by itself. We claim that due to cognitive biases, or heuristics, when the government changes consumption tax rates, officially to...

Automobiles are ubiquitous. Most Americans take at least one car trip every day to get to work or school or to run household errands. The automobile has also never been safer. New technology has brought car frames that crumple to reduce the impact of a crash, airbags that cushion the blow of an...

This paper extends the literature on consumer decision-making and energy efficiency through recourse to insights from behavioral economics and neuroeconomics. This approach is motivated by the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) new regulations mandating more stringent energy-efficiency standards...