We examine the impact of consumer protection laws on loan terms and outcomes in auto financing. We find that dealers strategically adjust contracts such that similar borrowers face the same monthly payments in states with and without interest rate limits. However, monthly payments are higher in...

After existing regulatory systems failed to prevent the 2008 financial crisis, Congress passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, a sweeping reform designed to alleviate the crisis and prevent its recurrence. Out of this Act, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau...

Using a dataset of around 3,000 commercial banks from over 100 countries, I examine the impact of financial consumer protection policies on the cost of financial intermediation. I find evidence that the existence of internal mechanisms for handling complaints, requirements for fair treatment,...

Forced arbitration clauses have become almost unavoidable in contracts for financial services and products ranging form credit cards to private student loans. This report examines how the financial services industry uses these clauses to defeat consumers' rights and evade accountability for...

In the aftermath of the U.S. financial crisis, Congress created a new federal agency — the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) — with the goal of fashioning a more just and efficient American consumer finance market. The CFPB now serves as the U.S. Government's primary regulator and...

We present results from a first ever representative phone survey that measures consumer grievances in Indian retail financial markets. We find that for every com- plaint on banking and payments that makes it to the regulatory system, there are 60 grievances that do not get voiced. In insurance...

​In this article we first document the evidence showing how an efficient retail payment infrastructure enhances economic performance. We then review the policy tools available to promote efficient retail payments in Europe. We argue that while SEPA is an important policy initiative that...

We analyze the effectiveness of consumer financial regulation by considering the 2009 Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act. We use a panel data set covering 160 million credit card accounts and a difference-in-differences research design that compares changes in...

We study the effects of regulatory oversight by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on credit supply as well as bank risk-taking, growth, and operating costs. We use a difference-in-differences approach, making use of the fact that banks below a $10 billion size cutoff are exempt...

We build a framework to understand the effects of regulatory interventions in credit markets, such as caps on interest rates and higher compliance costs for lenders. We focus on the credit card market, in which we observe U.S. consumers borrowing at high and very dispersed interest rates,...