Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-2023
ISSN
0026-5535
Publisher
University of Minnesota Law School
Language
en-US
Abstract
This Article shows how consumer law, a field “derided as the law of small problems,”4 is more accurately viewed as important for addressing large-scale societal threats. It also offers a more integrated conceptual and institutional approach to consumer law so that the field can have a better chance of fulfilling its societal potential.
Part I of this Article outlines the importance of consumer law. It maps consumer law’s connections to some of the most pressing societal threats: climate change, public health, inequality, and disinformation. Part II focuses on consumer law’s place in the legal academy and government. Currently, important legal institutions marginalize consumer law. Part III concludes by broadening the field beyond protection or microeconomics. The goal is to move toward a more holistic vision for consumer law rooted intellectually in a public priority principle and institutionally in a legal system that invests in consumer law in accordance with its societal value.
Recommended Citation
Rory Van Loo,
The Public Stakes of Consumer Law: The Environment, the Economy, Health, Disinformation, and Beyond
,
in
107
Minnesota Law Review
2039
(2023).
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.bu.edu/faculty_scholarship/3927
Included in
Consumer Protection Law Commons, Law and Economics Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legal Education Commons
