Truth in Lending
Theory, History, and a Way Forward
Published on 24. March 2011
Book
Hardback
384 pages
978-0-19-517295-9 (ISBN)
Description
This book is a guide to the purposes, strengths, and weaknesses of disclosures as consumer protections in financial transactions such as loans, deposits, and consumer leases. It focuses on the federal Truth in Lending Act but also covers a variety of other federal disclosure statutes designed to protect consumers in their financial relationships. It comes at a time when federal financial consumer protection policy in the financial area is again a matter of intense public scrutiny and debate.
Because of the importance of public policy issues surrounding use of disclosures as consumer protections, the intended audience includes anyone interested in these issues, not simply specialists who spend their time focused on them. For this reason, the work avoids academic jargon and the mathematics that is the modern language of economics. It also examines the psychological, sociological, historical, and especially legal traditions that go into fully understanding what has led to the demand for better disclosures for consumers and to what they have become today. Despite a need to outline and review prior difficulties with disclosure laws, the book remains optimistic that disclosures will continue to be an important means of consumer protection and that future reforms can improve their effectiveness and lower their regulatory costs and burden.
Because of the importance of public policy issues surrounding use of disclosures as consumer protections, the intended audience includes anyone interested in these issues, not simply specialists who spend their time focused on them. For this reason, the work avoids academic jargon and the mathematics that is the modern language of economics. It also examines the psychological, sociological, historical, and especially legal traditions that go into fully understanding what has led to the demand for better disclosures for consumers and to what they have become today. Despite a need to outline and review prior difficulties with disclosure laws, the book remains optimistic that disclosures will continue to be an important means of consumer protection and that future reforms can improve their effectiveness and lower their regulatory costs and burden.
Reviews / Votes
Information is crucial to the effective operation of consumer financial markets. Durkin and Elliehausen have provided a valuable and comprehensive analysis of an important but often neglected topic, namely, required disclosures from financial services firms. Their analysis will play a significant role in the ongoing debate about making those disclosures less legalistic and more useful to consumers. * Randall S. Kroszner, Norman R. Bobins Professor of Economics, The University of Chicago *More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
5 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
743 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-517295-9 (9780195172959)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Thomas Durkin has specialized in the economics and regulation of consumer financial services, in the federal government as Senior Economist at the Federal Reserve Board, in the academic area as Associate Professor of Finance at the Pennsylvania State University, and in the private sector as Chief Economist of the American Financial Services Association.
Gregory Elliehausen has also specialized in the economics and regulation of consumer financial services, in the federal government as Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for more than twenty years and in the academic sector as Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University and the George Washington University.
Gregory Elliehausen has also specialized in the economics and regulation of consumer financial services, in the federal government as Economist at the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System for more than twenty years and in the academic sector as Senior Research Scholar at Georgetown University and the George Washington University.
Content
1. Preface