Showing papers on "Consumer protection published in 1983"

Revolt Against Regulation: The Rise and Pause of the Consumer Movement

Abstract: "Michael Pertschuk brings an insider's insight to the tumultuous years of the sixties and seventies, when the consumer protection bells rang from Washington throughout the land. An engrossing story of corporate versus consumer battles over health, safety, and the economic rights of Americans. The future of consumer justice is given wisdom by this eyewitness account." (Ralph Nadar). "This is a book that should be ready by everyone with a stake in regulation of business by bureaucrats in Washington. Whether you agree or disagree with his point of view - and I often disagree - you can always count on Mike Pertschuk to be provocative, stimulating, and certainly controversial." (Howard H. Bell, President, American Advertising Federation). "There is a lot of businessmen [sic] to disagree with in this book. It's troublesome and disturbing - not the least because Mike Pertschuk is a tough adversary. But any businessman [sic] - or citizen - who wants to know exactly how the politics of regulation work would be well advised to read this book - and be prepared." (George Koch, President and Chief Executive Officer Grocery Manufacturers of America). "Must reading for everyone who is a student of the consumer movement, past, present, and future, and its interaction with the government, media, private sector, et al. It is a superb 'How To' manual on tactics, and presents a rare inside look at how things really get done in that place called Washington, D.C." (Calvin Pond, Vice President, Public Affairs Division Safeway Stores, Inc.). "Pertschuk's book is outstanding; it is a beautiful blend of personal, firsthand observation and political and policy analysis." (Aaron Wildavsky, University of California, Berkeley). "A rare picture of how government works...sprightly, lucid, and appealing ...remarkably candid and honest, not only in revealing the labyrinthian interplays of politics but in disclosing the author's own attitudes and motives...An extraordinary document." (Charles Lindblom, Yale University). "There is no more controversial figure in Washington than Michael Pertschuk..." (Senator John Danforth).

Acid rain : a review of the phenomenon in the EEC and Europe : a report prepared for the Commission of the European Communities, Directorate-General for Environment, Consumer Protection and Nuclear Safety

Abstract: The report examines the extent of environmental damage in the Community and in certain other European countries that may be attributable to acid pollutant emissions within Member States. The study assesses the evidence for possible causal effects and considers the physical, chemical and biological processes which have been suggested as damage mechanisms. Concern in Europe has grown in the past few years as a result of observed damage to forests found principally in central and southern Germany, and also because of the loss of fish populations in the lakes of parts of south west Norway and Sweden. More recently, a few lakes, rivers and streams in Scotland, England and Wales, with geological and upper river catchments similar in character to those areas of Scandinavia referred to, have also reported absence or death of fish. Acid precipitation is considered a possible contributory cause. Loss of needles from pine trees has also been found in other areas of the Community. Less well appreciated is the existence of damage to building materials, caused by short range acid pollutant effects and the possibility under certain conditions that yields of some crops and vegetables are affected by the dry deposition of acid pollutants and their derivative products. Historically most attention has focused on S02, and its oxidised 'wet' form, sulphuric acid. Overall emissions of S02 in the Community have declined in the last ten years and this trend may well continue.

The vulnerability of elderly consumers

Abstract: Research interest in the vulnerability of the elderly to consumer fraud has increased in recent years. Consumer surveys and studies of complaint data permit the examination of hypothesized indicators of vulnerability for samples of older and younger consumers. A review of the research shows that patterns of consumption, situational characteristics, education and product knowledge, awareness of deception, psychological losses, social isolation, and psychosocial transitions influence the elderly's vulnerability and ability to cope with consumer abuse. Higher educational attainment and a greater skepticism toward business practices should improve the coping ability of future cohorts of elderly, yet the potential for fraud will remain for many transactions vitally important to their well-being. Implications of the research findings for intervention strategies are presented.

Consumer Intelligence, Creativity, and Consciousness: Implications for Consumer Protection and Education:

Abstract: This research represents an exploratory investigation of the relationship between consumers’ intellegence, creativity, and ability to activate consumption-relevant information. Within the cohort sa...

Law and Science Policy in Federal Regulation of Formaldehyde

Abstract: An examination of the way in which the Environmental Protection Agency, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and Consumer Product Safety Commission each responded to evidence of formaldehyde's carcinogenicity in animal systems reveals the interplay between politics and science policy in regulatory determinations. In some cases there were significant and unjustified departures from reasoned decision-making. Agency decisions not to take action deserve special attention by citizens, the Congress, and the judiciary to ensure that federal regulatory agencies take the necessary steps to protect the public from significant health, safety, and environmental risks.

The comparative politics of agenda setting: the emergence of consumer protection as a public policy issue in britain and the united states

Abstract: This article compares the emergence of consumer protection as an issue on the public policy agendas of Britain and the United States in the 1960s. Similar forces caused the emergence of consumer protection in both cases. Governmental responses to consumer protection issues also have been similar, but distinctive features of each country's political system are evident as well. The analysis draws upon existing consumer protection literature for each country as well as the author's interviews with a number of Britons involved in this policy area. The principal conclusion is that consumer protection gained each country's policy agenda as a discretionary item. Events of the past few years demonstrate that it is not yet a durable agenda item in either case.

The Enforceability of Security Interests in Consumer Goods

Abstract: Security interests in consumer goods have been extensively regulated, this regulation taking the principal forms either of prohibiting creditors from taking such interests at all or of deliberately reducing their attractiveness as risk reduction devices. The unique feature of this consumer protection regulation is that it is not justified by the usual unconscionability reasons, such as the existence of imperfect information, but rather by the view that security disadvantages consumers even though the contracts that create it may not be unconscionable. In particular, the institutional structure is considered to create incentives for secured creditors not to maximize the proceeds that repossessed collateral could yield, with the result that consumers remain liable for excessive debts even after foreclosure. Also, creditors are said to threaten repossession unfairly to coerce payment; repossession allegedly destroys consumer surplus; and it supposedly violates debtors' rights. This paper argues that these justifications for the regulation of security interests in consumer goods are untenable or unpersuasive. Contracts to give security actually pose problems similar in kind to those posed by any other consumer contract, and should be regulated, if at all, under the same rationales.

The rationale for government intervention in seller-consumer relationships

Abstract: Government intervention in the form of consumer protection is appropriate where consumers have less than the required amount of information to protect themselves, where transaction costs act to reduce consumer self-protection below acceptable levels, where consumer welfare is not sufficiently considered in oligopolistic markets, where private costs and social costs diverge due to externalities, where a certain level of quality assurance is necessary if markets are to function and where riskier products removal from the market lowers firms' insurance premiums as well as serves the interest of public health and safety. Consumer protection is a public good which will not be available in optimal quantities without government intervention.

Consumer Protection Policy in the United States

Abstract: Consumer protection regulation is based on a belief that the private market fails in a significant way: it fails to supply consumers with adequate information for them to make efficient choices among products and to protect themselves from unscrupulous sellers. Consumer protection regulation would be unnecessary in a world of perfect information. It would also be unnecessary if markets for information worked perfectly. As economists have increasingly turned their attention to the study of information as a valuable commodity they have had much more to say about consumer protection. A general theme of the economics of information

Licensure of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case for Abolition

Abstract: While state medical licensure laws ostensibly are intended to promote worthwhile goals, such as the maintenance of high standards in health care delivery, this Article argues that these laws in practice are detrimental to consumers. The Article takes the position that licensure contributes to high medical care costs and stifles competition, innovation and consumer autonomy. It concludes that delicensure would expand the range of health services available to consumers and reduce patient dependency, and that these developments would tend to make medical practice more satisfying to consumers and providers of health care services.

A Lens-Model Approach To the Evaluation of Consumer Experience With Special Education Service Delivery:

Abstract: An adaptation of Egon Brunswik's lens-model methodology was used for evaluation of consumer judgments concerning overall effectiveness of a special education in-service training program for rural-area handicapped preschool children and their families. Relevant variables associated with the estimates of the quality of service were identified. Service-delivery personnel utilized these variables in estimating consumer judgments concerning program effectiveness. The ways in which the 2 groups utilized the cues were compared. Multiple regression analysis revealed that for both groups a substantial portion of the variance associated with the criterion could be accounted for by a set of 3 predictor variables related to the professional ecologies and personality characteristics of the consumers as well as to the project's influence on specific skill acquisition. Discussion centers on the strength of a lens-model approach for evaluation tasks relating to subject judgments.

Licensure of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case for Abolition

Abstract: While state medical licensure laws ostensibly are intended to promote worthwhile goals, such as the maintenance of high standards in health care delivery, this Article argues that these laws in practice are detrimental to consumers. The Article takes the position that licensure contributes to high medical care costs and stifles competition, innovation and consumer autonomy. It concludes that delicensure would expand the range of health services available to consumers and reduce patient dependency, and that these developments would tend to make medical practice more satisfying to consumers and providers of health care services.

The Legislative Veto: Congressional Control Of Regulation

Abstract: On June 23, 1983, the U.S. Supreme Court declared a legislative veto unconstitutional in the Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha case, a ruling that seems to invalidate the legislative vetoes in more than two hundred laws. Two weeks later the court reaffirmed the principles of Chadha to invalidate the legislative veto in other acts. These epic cases, which are already being called the most important separation-of-powers rulings since the White House tapes cases, have generated debate over the implications of the loss of the legislative veto and the wisdom of the court's actions. In this book the author argues that the legislative veto fell far short of its promise in actual operation over the regulatory process. Instead of promoting democratic congressional control over the actions of bureaucrats, legislative veto politics more often devolved to the politics of special interest protection, heavily influenced by unelected congressional staff. Moreover, the legislative veto. allowed Congress to sidestep conflicts by issuing vague mandates that left agencies without the necessary congressional support to implement them. Dr. Craig combines a historical perspective on the legislative veto with analyses of original case studies involving some of the most important policy issues of the 1980s--housing, education, energy, and consumer protection. Assessing all the cases available for research, she points to discrepancies between the legislative veto's intended effects and its actual results. In a final chapter she considers the impact of the Chadha case and discusses possible alternatives to the legislative veto for congressional control of regulation.

Evaluating the impact of consumer protection regulations: the federal trade commission experience

Abstract: Evaluation of consumer protection regulations promulgated by the Federal Trade Commission is a formal, ongoing activity employing a wide variety of commonly accepted research designs. This paper describes the variety of evaluation designs and gives examples of the application of these designs in assessing the impact of FTC Trade Rules in the marketplace. The authors also consider the future of consumer protection evaluation in an environment of severe budget constraints.

Rx for OTC Users: Improved Health Education.

Abstract: A survey of college students' perceptions and understanding of the directions, cautions and warnings affixed to or accompanying over-the-counter medicines was conducted during 1980-81 at the University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The questionnaire asked students to list the OTC products they use and to define or recognize definitions for pertinent terminology. The present paper concludes there is compelling need for increased emphases on health education at all educational levels, particularly as related to self-medication practices, and that on-going programs should be examined for relevance.

Consumer Risk Response and Consumer Protection: An Economic Analysis of Seat Belt Usage

Abstract: A utility analysis of decisions involving risk indicated that risk averse consumers would undertake a risk reduction strategy as long as the change in expected loss was equal to or greater than the costs of the strategy. Cost-benefit analysis of seat belt usage was conducted to test this hypothesis. The results indicated that drivers of all size classes would gain from using seat belts in the case of low user costs while the drivers of subcompacts and compacts would gain in the case of higher user costs. However, less than one-fifth of drivers wear seat belts. These results raise questions concerning the effectiveness of the informed buyer approach in areas of risk or uncertainty.

Is the U.N. Becoming a Global Nanny? The Case of Consumer Protection Guidelines

Abstract: This publication takes the position that the United Nations should not assume the role of a global nanny, intervening in matters which are essentially the jurisdiction of individual nations.

Corporate reactions to voluntary codes of practice: Results of a survey

Abstract: It is frequently argued that, so far as traders and manufacturers are concerned, consumer protection measures impose costs without offering benefits and that these costs exceed the value of any benefits derived by consumers. This paper offers some information on this issue by reporting the results of a postal questionnaire survey of United Kingdom traders in eight trades covered by voluntary codes of practice. While the low response rate necessitates caution in drawing inferences from the results it is argued that this is understandable and does not invalidate the findings. The impact of codes of practice on a number of matters including the costs incurred by traders, the benefits received, the effect on trading standards and on consumer behaviour, the impact on the trade concerned and its relations with government and the consumer movement, are discussed. In general, while the impact of the codes of practice concerned does not appear to have been substantial, it does seem that, on balance, all interest groups — consumers, the trade as a whole, and the individual trader — have benefitted.

Utility Diversification: A Regulatory Perspective

Abstract: Many electric, gas, and telephone utility companies have in recent years been exploring the potential of entry into unregulated, nonutility businesses as a means of enhancing overall profitability and returns realized by shareowners. Utility regulators have long viewed expansions by regulated utility companies into such enterprises as fraught with possibilities for injury to utility ratepayers. Because of the recent step-up of diversification activity by utilities, the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners decided in 1981 to conduct a thorough investigation to identify the issues raised by diversification and, where appropriate, make recommendations on how those issues should be resolved. This article reviews actions of the association's Ad Hoc Committee on Utility Diversification and the conclusions reached in its investigation. 9 references, 2 figures.

Protecting clients' rights in mental health programs

Abstract: Mental health organizations must take the steps necessary to ensure that their consumers are legally safe and that their rights are protected. This can best be accomplished by identifying the criteria for legally safe programs, determining the status of one's own program relative to those criteria, and implementing strategies to improve the organization's performance.

Costs and Benefits of Certification for Organizational Behavior Managers

Abstract: The costs and benefits of certification for behavior analytically oriented organizational behavior managers were presented, and because both costs and benefits are at least partially dependent on the details of specific certification processes, a description of the process adopted by the Association for Behavior Analysis was provided. In assessing the advisability of certification in this area, a number of concerns were addressed including: the validity of the performance standards adopted; implications for the development of the field; the financial costs of the certifying mechanism; the athority of the certifying body; consumer protection; self protection; and self regulation. It was concluded that further attempts to define the area of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) and to describe effective OBM practices would be of value to practitioners working in this area and to consumers of their services.