•  
  •  
 

Abstract

During the past decade, academics – predominantly scholars of behavioral law and economics – have increasingly turned to the claimed insights of behavioral economics in order to craft novel policy proposals in many fields, most significantly consumer credit regulation. Over the same period, these ideas have also gained traction with policymakers, resulting in a variety of legislative efforts, such as the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Most recently, the efforts of behavioral law and economics scholars have been directed toward challenging a number of state laws that regulate retailers’ use of surcharge fees for consumer credit card payments. In part as a result of these efforts, the issue has come before multiple courts with varying outcomes. In this article, we examine the merits of that effort. Claims about the realworld application of behavioral economic theories should not be uncritically accepted, and this is especially true when such claims are advanced to challenge a state’s commercial regulation on constitutional grounds. And courts should be particularly careful before relying on such claims where the available evidence fails to support them.

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.