Mar. 21, 2014—Postdoctoral Research Scholar in Law and Economics Jennifer Bennett Shinall has been invited by the Law and Society Association to participate in LSA’s 2014 Early Career Workshop. The workshop will be held on May 27-28 at the Minneapolis Hilton Hotel, immediately preceding the Annual Meeting of the Law and Society Association, where Shinall will present...
Mar. 18, 2014—Postdoctoral Scholar in Law and Economics Jennifer Bennett Shinall has been selected to present a paper at the 2014 American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting. The presentation is titled “What Happens When the Definition of Disability Changes? The Case of Obesity.” The conference will be held at the University of Chicago, May 8-9. Summary...
Mar. 17, 2014—Law and Economics student Scott DeAngelis has been named a Janet D. Steiger Fellow for Summer 2014. For his fellowship, DeAngelis will work for eight weeks in the Consumer Protection Division of the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. About the fellowship: Each of the 35 states and 2 territories that are part of the project get...
Mar. 17, 2014—Law and Economics student Jacob P. Byl has been admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. His dissertation is titled “Toward More Effective Endangered Species Regulation.” Byl’s committee chair is Professor J.B. Ruhl. Professors Kathryn H. Anderson, Cindy D. Kam, and W. Kip Viscusi comprise the rest of Byl’s dissertation committee. Summary of the dissertation topic:...
Mar. 15, 2014—Law and Economics student Jacob Byl’s paper “Perverse Incentives of the Endangered Species Act: Evidence from Timber Harvests near Woodpeckers” has been accepted for inclusion at the 2014 American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting. The conference will be held at the University of Chicago on May 8-9.
Mar. 14, 2014—Law and Economics student Elissa Philip’s paper “Learning about Drug Ineffectiveness: Physicians’ Prescription Decisions for Off-Label Drugs” has been accepted for inclusion at the 2014 American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting. The conference will be held at the University of Chicago on May 8-9.
Mar. 12, 2014—Ph.D. candidate in Law and Economics Caroline Cecot will defend her dissertation, “Shale Development: Risks, Responses, and Regulation,” on Monday, March 24 from 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM in the Alexander Room, Law School. Cecot’s advisor is University Distinguished Professor W. Kip Viscusi. Professors Joni Hersch, Dana Nelson, and J.B. Ruhl comprise the rest of...
Mar. 12, 2014—Law & Economics student Benjamin J. McMichael has been admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. His dissertation is titled “Occupational Licensing and Legal Liability: The Effect of Regulation and Litigation on Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and the Healthcare System.” McMichael’s committee chair is Professor R. Lawrence Van Horn. Professors James F. Blumstein, Peter I. Buerhaus,...
Feb. 25, 2014—Representatives Henry Waxman of California and Peter Welch of Vermont, along with Sen. Tom Harkin of Iowa, have sent letters to the attorneys general in their respective states asking them to fold e-cigarettes into the Master Settlement Agreement with Big Tobacco as a way of keeping the electronic devices out of the hands of children,...
Feb. 21, 2014—Law & Economics student V. Blair Druhan has been admitted to candidacy for the Ph.D. Her dissertation is tentatively titled “Judicial and Agency Enforcement of Nondiscrimination Laws.” Druhan’s committee chair is Professor Joni Hersch. Professors Kevin Stack, W. Kip Viscusi, and The George Washington University Law School Professor Michael Selmi comprise the rest of Ms....
Feb. 6, 2014—Law & Economics student Jean Y. Xiao will be Senior Articles Editor for the Vanderbilt Law Review for the academic year 2014-2015. Xiao earned a B.A. in economics and mathematics from Vanderbilt University in 2011, conducting her undergraduate honors thesis research under advisors Professor Andrew Daughety and Professor Jennifer Reinganum. She earned Vanderbilt Scholastic Excellence Awards for...
Jan. 7, 2014—Law & Economics Postdoctoral Research Scholar Jennifer Shinall’s paper “The Last Legally Allowed Form of Discrimination: Why Weight Should Be the Next Protected Class Under Title VII” has been accepted for inclusion at the 50th anniversary Law and Society Association annual meeting. The conference, being held in Minneapolis, Minnesota May 28 – June1, 2014, will...
Jan. 7, 2014—Law & Economics professors Joni Hersch and Paige Marta Skiba authored two of Vanderbilt University’s 10 most popular research stories in 2013. #8 Women with elite education opting out of full-time careers (Hersch) #6 The trouble with car title loans is NOT people losing their cars (Skiba)
Dec. 12, 2013—Professor W. Kip Viscusi has been elected to be the Vice-President of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis for 2014 and will be President of the SBCA in 2015. The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis, currently housed at the Evans School of Public Affairs, is an international organization dedicated to the advancement, encouragement, and exchange of ideas,...
Nov. 8, 2013—Blair Druhan, a fifth-year student in the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt has accepted a judicial clerkship with Judge Stephen A. Higginson, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to begin Fall 2015. Druhan, a Vanderbilt Law & Economics Scholar, earned a B.S. in economics from Auburn University in 2009. She served on the...
Oct. 29, 2013—Benjamin J. McMichael, a fifth-year student in the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics at Vanderbilt has accepted a judicial clerkship with Judge Carolyn Dineen King, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, to begin Fall 2015. McMichael earned a B.S. in mathematical economics from Wake Forest University in 2009 and is a Vanderbilt...
Sep. 30, 2013—Professor Joni Hersch’s paper “Opting Out among Women with Elite Education” is garnering substantial media attention, most recently in The Atlantic. [Read at NBCNews.com] [Read at WSJ.com] [Read at ScienceDaily.com] [Read at BusinessNewsDaily.com] [Read in Cosmopolitan] [Read at Vanderbilt.edu]
Sep. 5, 2013—University Distinguished Professor W. Kip Viscusi will deliver the keynote speech at the Meta-Analysis of Economic Research Network (MAER-Net) Colloquium at University of Greenwich, England: “Publication Selection and the Income Elasticity of the Value of a Statistical Life.”
Sep. 3, 2013—The L&E program’s second graduate, Jinghui Lim, began a one-year term as postdoctoral research fellow at New York University School of Law’s Center for Law, Economics & Organization.
Aug. 27, 2013—L&E student Caroline Cecot’s paper “The Effect of Nearby Shale Gas Development on Property Values: Explaining Cross-County Differences” has been accepted for presentation at the Southern Economic Association Annual Meetings on November 25 in Tampa, Florida.
Aug. 19, 2013—The L&E program’s first graduate, Jennifer Bennett Shinall, returned to Vanderbilt Law School as Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Law & Economics. She will teach Labor Markets & Human Resources I in Spring 2014.
Apr. 23, 2013—In its 2013 guidance memo, DOT updated its approach for assigning a dollar value to prevention of fatal injuries, which is now over $9 million per expected fatality. DOT relied upon Viscusi’s studies to set the overall valuation of risk to life, the reasonable range of valuation estimates, and the effect of income levels on...
Apr. 22, 2013—Professor Paige Marta Skiba is interviewed about pricey car title loans on The Street. [Watch the video]
Apr. 19, 2013—L&E student Blair Druhan was awarded the Myron Penn Laughlin Award for Excellence for her Vanderbilt Law Review Note “Severe or Pervasive: An Analysis of Who, What, and Where Matters When Determining Sexual Harassment.” Blair was also awarded the Candidates Award, which is awarded by the second-year staff of the Vanderbilt Law Review to the third-year staff member,...
Apr. 5, 2013—The Tennessean: Tennessee payday lender grows at breakneck speed amid industry criticism – April 5, 2013 – Deborah Jackson was living paycheck to paycheck when she walked into an Advance Financial store for a $425 loan. Paying back the original loan required additional loans. Advance Financial charged Jackson a $60 renewal fee, so the interest rate worked out...