Law & Economics Ph.D. News

The Danger of Applying the Major Questions Doctrine to Major Risks

May. 17, 2023—Study co-authored by Vanderbilt JD-PhD ’16 Elissa Philip Gentry and Vanderbilt’s W. Kip Viscusi examines the rationale of the Supreme Court’s COVID-era limitations on OSHA’s authority and what it means for future crises.

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Longer Grace Periods for Payday Loans Don’t Change Repayment Behavior

Feb. 6, 2023—New findings from Vanderbilt Law’s Paige Skiba offer implications for policymakers seeking to improve subprime credit markets

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Paige Marta Skiba’s co-authored research on the effect of having more time to repay a payday loan published in American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

Sep. 28, 2022—Skiba and co-authors Sarah Payne Carter (BA'17), Kuan Lui and Justin Sydnor examined the benefits of state laws on minimum payday loan durations for borrowers.

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Jennifer Shinall receives Vanderbilt’s Chancellor’s Award for Research on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Sep. 2, 2022—The award recognizes Shinall’s paper, “Protecting Pregnancy,” published in the Cornell Law Review, which offers a sophisticated analysis of how laws designed to assist pregnant women in the workplace actually work.

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JD/PhD in Law and Economics student Scott Jeffrey ’23 wins second place in the Louis Jackson Memorial student writing competition

Aug. 30, 2021—The competition recognizes the best legal writing in the field of labor and employment law among current law students. Jeffrey’s paper, “The Occupational Illness of COVID-19: New Presumptions in Workers’ Compensation,” placed second in the longstanding competition, which is administered by the Institute for Law and the Workplace at IIT Chicago-Kent College of Law.

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Research by Erin Meyers JD/PhD’21 shows arrests have high economic costs even when no conviction results

Jul. 12, 2021—Meyers found that more than half of Black men had been arrested by the time they were young adults but that Black men were much less likely to be convicted than white men. Her dissertation, The Criminal Justice System and Social Mobility in the United States, documents the negative impacts of over-arrest on the employment and educational opportunities of Black men.

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W. Kip Viscusi featured on “The Economists” podcast from Australian Broadcasting Corp. addressing “Lockdowns and the Path Forward”

Jun. 25, 2021—Viscusi is the University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics and Management and co-director of the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics. He discusses how to measure the costs and benefits of lockdowns and how the statistical value of a human life underpins government decision-making in a podcast hosted by Peter Martin and Gigi Foster. Viscusi's segment starts at 20:10.

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Blair Druhan Bullock JD/PhD ’15 joins law faculty at the University of Arkansas

Jun. 24, 2021—Bullock’s scholarship focuses on employment discrimination and the labor market. She most recently served as the Murphy Visiting Assistant Professor at Tulane Law School.

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Paige Marta Skiba elected chair elect of AALS Section on Law and Economics

Feb. 23, 2021—Skiba will serve as chair-elect during 2021 and then began a one-year term as chair in 2022.

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Time to Act: A Message from Dean Chris Guthrie

Jun. 5, 2020—The recent killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade and countless others form part of a long and tragic history of racial violence and injustice. It is time for us to act.

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Research by W. Kip Viscusi finds post-9/11 wars may have resulted in twice as many deaths at home as in battle

Jan. 10, 2020—Viscusi, an economist whose research focuses on fatality risks, found that post-9/11 wars resulted in indirect deaths in the U.S. due to the diversion of war costs from the U.S. economy and the subsequent impact on consumers who had less money to spend on better nutrition, health care, safe housing and safe products. His article, "The Mortality Cost Metric for the Cost of War," appears in the journal Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy.

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Paige Skiba and Caroline Malone, JD/PhD’22 on how payday lenders use installment loans to evade regulation

Dec. 9, 2019—In a Dec. 9 article published by The Conversation, Skiba and Malone explain why payday lenders have embraced installment loans, based on their recent study that explored the effect that the larger installment loans have on borrowers. Their results suggest that installment loans may create additional financial strain for consumers rather than benefiting them.

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W. Kip Viscusi honored with the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research

Aug. 27, 2019—The Sutherland Prize is Vanderbilt University’s most prestigious faculty honor for accomplishments in research and scholarship. Viscusi is the University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics and Management and co-directs the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics.

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Research team headed by Alan Storrow of Vanderbilt Medical School and Jim Blumstein of Vanderbilt Law garners DHHS grant to develop and test “safe harbor” standards of care

Apr. 17, 2019—VU researchers from the schools of Law, Medicine and Management will develop and test “safe harbor” protocols designed to improve quality of care and reduce unnecessary medical procedures performed to reduce legal liability.

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Penalties for sexual harassment are too low according to study by economist Joni Hersch

Mar. 15, 2019—Hersch recommends the cap on damage awards for sexual harassment be increased to reflect their actual cost to employers, employees and industries.

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W. Kip Viscusi is president-elect of the Southern Economic Association

Nov. 19, 2018—Viscusi will serve as president-elect starting in November 2018 and then as SEA’s president in 2019.

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Paige Skiba elected to American Law and Economics Association board of directors

May. 21, 2018—An expert in high-interest credit markets, Skiba has taught at Vanderbilt since 2007.

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Vanderbilt Law graduates earn Ph.D. in Law and Economics

May. 14, 2018—Scott DeAngelis and Danielle Drago Drory were awarded both a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt Law School’s commencement May 11.   Scott DeAngelis’ dissertation seeks to shed further light on the issue of concussions in athletics, examining youth sports concussion laws, risk and compensation schemes related to concussions, and risk-management...

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Ph.D. candidate in Law and Economics Scott DeAngelis successfully defends his dissertation

Feb. 26, 2018—Ph.D. candidate in Law and Economics Scott DeAngelis successfully defended his dissertation on Monday, February 26, 2018 at the law school. Summary of Dissertation “Concussions in Athletics: Risk-Taking Behavior, Compensation, and Legal Remedies” This dissertation seeks to shed further light on the issue of concussions in athletics—a topic that has garnered increased attention over the...

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Ph.D. candidate in Law and Economics Danielle Drago Drory successfully defends her dissertation

Feb. 22, 2018—Ph.D. candidate in Law and Economics Danielle Drago Drory successfully defended her dissertation on Thursday, February 22, 2018 at the law school. Summary of Dissertation “Immigration Federalism Renewed: The Effects of State and Local Policies on the Labor Market Outcomes of the U.S. Immigrant Population” This dissertation empirically examines three distinct instances of immigration federalism....

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Law and Economics student Nicholas M. Marquiss will be senior articles editor for Vanderbilt Law Review

Feb. 12, 2018—Law and Economics student, Nicholas M. Marquiss, will be senior articles editor for Vanderbilt Law Review in 2018-2019. Marquiss earned his B.A. in economics at Whitman College in 2013. He earned a Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Award for Contracts. He is currently serving as staff member of the Vanderbilt Law Review in 2017-2018. His fields of...

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Law and Economics student Erin E. Meyers will be Editor in Chief for JETLaw

Feb. 12, 2018—Law and Economics student, Erin E. Meyers, will be Editor in Chief for the Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law in 2018-2019. Meyers earned her B.BA. in risk management and insurance and her Actuarial Science Certificate from the University of Georgia at Athens in 2013. She is currently serving as a staff member of...

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Law and Economics graduate Jacob P. Byl (JD/PhD’15) to join faculty at Western Kentucky University

Feb. 9, 2018—Jacob Byl will join the economics faculty at Western Kentucky University as Assistant Professor of Economics beginning Fall 2018. Following Byl’s graduation from Vanderbilt, he served as a judicial law clerk for Judge Robert J. Jonker in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan in 2015-2016. He served a judicial clerkship with...

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Law and Economics graduate Benjamin J. McMichael (JD/PhD’15) to join law faculty at the University of Alabama School of Law

Dec. 11, 2017—Benjamin McMichael will join the law faculty at the University of Alabama School of Law as an assistant professor of law beginning fall 2018. His research focuses on the ways in which legal regimes influence the provision of health care in the United States. He has also examined the roles of state and federal reforms...

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W. Kip Viscusi is cited in The Council of Economic Advisers report on “The Underestimated Cost of the Opioid Crisis”

Nov. 21, 2017—One of Viscusi’s articles cited in the report was coauthored with fifth-year Vanderbilt J.D./Ph.D. student, Clayton J. Masterman.

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