Professor Van Loo’s research focuses on how technological, market, and social shifts invite a rethinking of the regulatory framework for consumer-facing businesses. He was ranked the 14th most cited of all legal scholars in 2024 for recent publications (and 8th most cited once adjusted for co-authorship). His articles were twice selected through blind peer review for the Harvard/Stanford/Yale Junior Faculty Forum and have been published in various journals such as the Columbia Law Review, Virginia Law Review, and University of Chicago Law Review. Several of Professor Van Loo’s scholarly ideas were later implemented, including through the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s issuance of a data-sharing rule. His perspectives have also appeared in NPR’s Weekend Edition, The Sunday Times, Reuters, Bloomberg, and USA Today, among others.
Prior to Wharton, Professor Van Loo taught at Harvard Law School and the Boston University School of Law. He also served on the implementation team that launched the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and conducted empirical studies for multinational corporations in mergers and acquisitions, consumer marketing, and organizational design at McKinsey & Co.
Professor Van Loo’s intellectual engagement with digital markets began with an undergraduate major in science, technology, and society, focusing on computer science. He then received a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to travel to Argentina, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, India, Mali, Peru, Senegal, and Vietnam researching the social impact of the internet.
