Consumer Financial Protection Case Study:

a) The Economist (2012) article suggests that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) "will be able to initiate investigations tied to anything 'abusive,' a term that has yet to be defined." Appealing to economic theory, how might one characterize the term "abusive" in the context of the relationship between financial services firms and their customers? Hint: Which of the two types of opportunism is this situation most like?

b) The Cowley (2019) article notes that the CFPB "will continue to publish its database of consumer complaints about financial companies, ending - for now - a battle over public access to one of the agency's most powerful tools." Similarly, the Singletary (2023) article considers the volume of consumer complaints against the major credit bureaus in the CFPB's public database. In the context of our discussion in class, explain what role CFPB's public database can play, at least in theory, in financial services markets.