Law, Business And Politics

Of all the issues being debated by politicians, lawmakers and voters, funding health care may be the issue on which no one can agree. Read More

Vanderbilt researcher Rebecca Haw gives suggestions on how to improve how expert testimony is presented in the courtroom so scientific consensus is more accurately portrayed. Read More

Former State Department adviser Vijay Padmanabhan says there is no quick and easy answer when contemplating what to do about detainees. Read More

A Japanese hedge fund company some are calling the Japanese “Bernard Madoff” seems to be reaffirming the maxim that if returns are too good to be true, there probably is something wrong. Read More

Rick Santorum is the favored candidate in Tennessee as the state approaches its Super Tuesday primary election March 6, according to a new poll from the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University. Read More

George W. Bush can probably look forward to an upswing in popularity as time goes by, say two Vanderbilt political scientists. A poll by CBS News and The New York Times near the end of Bush’s 2001-2009 presidency showed his approval rating at 22 percent, making him one of the most unpopular departing presidents in history. Read More

New Vanderbilt research shows that though the Republican base is generally biased against Mormonism, Mitt Romney’s religion would not hurt his chances among the GOP faithful as a presidential candidate in the general election. Read More

The conventional wisdom about Newt Gingrich's troubles at the Iowa caucuses may be mistaken, says John Geer of Vanderbilt University. Blaming a barrage of attack ads aimed at the former House speaker for his decline in the polls may be inaccurate, Geer believes. Read More

Groundbreaking new legal research from a team of Vanderbilt University and other researchers suggests that juror confusion over how to apply the Model Penal Code in criminal trials could cause major, unnoticed and life-altering sentencing errors. Read More

When the Republican presidential candidates ramp up anti-immigrant rhetoric this campaign season, they are likely to alienate conservative-leaning Latinos. Read More

Management professor David Owens of the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management says that business and other leaders need to understand exactly which of the constraints are working against them to help create conditions that foster innovation instead of killing it. Read More

Applications are being accepted for the second class of Vanderbilt University’s innovative Ph.D/J.D. program combining the study of law and neuroscience. Vanderbilt launched the first such program in the country in 2010 when it enrolled Bowdoin College alumnus Matthew Ginther to be the first to take on the challenging curriculum that alternates classes at Vanderbilt Law School and the university’s graduate program in neuroscience. Read More

Economist Joni Hersch has calculated the first measures of sexual harassment risks at work by industry, age group, and sex. Hersch finds that female workers are six times more likely than male workers to experience sexual harassment on the job. Read More

A recent study by Vanderbilt’s Center for Latin American Studies suggests that a key to bringing more jobs to Tennessee might lie in recruiting investment from emerging markets such as Mexico. Read More

Tennesseans agree by a wide margin that the economy is the most pressing problem for state and federal government, and many believe higher taxation on the wealthiest Americans is one way to fix it. Read More

Most Tennesseans believe that public school teachers are underpaid and many support their right to be represented by unions, according to voters surveyed by the Vanderbilt Poll. Read More

Businessman Herman Cain is the favorite of Tennessee voters for the state’s March 6 presidential Republican primary election, but female voters are far less likely to support him. That pattern is unlikely to change in light of allegations of sexual harassment against him, according to a new poll by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions at Vanderbilt University. Read More

If the real disposable incomes of voters are growing - even modestly - in the six months before Election Day, President Obama is likely to win. If they aren’t, he is likely to lose, according to political scientist Larry Bartels. Read More

New research by Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management professor Bruce Cooil and his coauthors finds that for all the attention companies pay to achieving high satisfaction levels among their customers, what matters most is how well a company ranks in comparison to rivals. No matter how much a customer likes a company or product, if they don’t like it more than the competition, they don’t always put their money where their mouth is. Read More

The struggle against juvenile crime may come down to one simple question, says a Vanderbilt University researcher: Do we want revenge or do we want results? If we want results, says legal expert Christopher Slobogin, we should dramatically reform the system to stress community-based treatment over incarceration. Read More