Symposium explores consumer protections in financial services marketplace

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced this week that it will hold a symposium on behavioral law and economics on Sept. 19 at 9 a.m. ET, titled Behavioral Economics and Consumer Financial Services Policy. The event will be webcast on the bureau’s website here.

The symposium is the second in a series announced earlier this year to explore consumer protections in today’s dynamic financial services marketplace. The series is aimed at stimulating a proactive and transparent dialogue to assist the bureau in its policy development process, including possible future rulemakings. The first symposium, on June 25, covered the Dodd-Frank Act’s prohibition on abusive acts or practices.

The event will feature remarks by Bureau Director Kathleen L. Kraninger and Deputy Director Brian Johnson.  The first panel will include a discussion of the methodological foundations of behavioral economics.  The panel will be moderated by Melissa Knoll, section chief of decision-making and behavioral studies in the bureau’s office of research. The panel experts are:

• Michael R. Baye, Ph.D., Bert Elwert Professor of Business, Indiana University Kelley School of Business
• David Gal, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, University of Illinois at Chicago
• John G. Lynch, Ph.D., Senior Associate Dean for Faculty and Research, University of Colorado Leeds School of Business
• Brigitte Madrian, Ph.D., Dean and Marriott Distinguished Professor, Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business

The second panel will be a discussion of behavioral law and economics and consumer financial protection.  The panel will be moderated by Jason Brown, assistant director in the bureau’s office of research. The panel experts are:

• Gregory Elliehausen, Ph.D., Principal Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Brigitte Madrian, Ph.D., Dean and Marriott Distinguished Professor, Brigham Young University Marriott School of Business
• Janis K. Pappalardo, Ph.D., Assistant Director, Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics, Division of Consumer Protection
• Josh Wright, Executive Director, ideas42
• Joshua D. Wright, Ph.D., JD, former FTC Commissioner and University Professor of Law, George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School

Those who plan to attend the symposium in person should RSVP here.