Law, Business And Politics

A popular proposal to limit the term of Supreme Court justices to 18 years could introduce unprecedented instability into the constitutional doctrine on polarizing topics, according to Vanderbilt law scholars. Read More

Disclosing a lapse in self control, like straying from a diet or spending too much on something frivolous, can help you do better next time if you truly feel guilty about it, but insincere confessions can actually make you more likely to slip up again. Read More

International human rights treaties really do work, and they work most effectively against the most repressive governments, argues political scientist Emily Hencken Ritter in a new book. Read More

Oversight of the Treasury market hasn't kept up with new technology, leaving these very safe investments unexpectedly vulnerable to major shocks, says Vanderbilt law professor Yesha Yadav in a new paper. Read More

Despite opportunities for broad consensus, Tennessee’s long history of pragmatic politics could be affected by rising polarization along party lines, according to the most recent statewide Vanderbilt University Poll. Read More

An empirical analysis of executive actions taken during President Trump's first year shows that while he focused more on immigration and deregulation than previous presidents, his use of unilateralism was largely in line with his predecessors. Read More

When businesses fail to comply with the rules, sometimes the rules themselves are partly to blame. Read More

Cultural norms can affect how we respond to mistreatment at work, but it is possible to shift that perspective to make it easier to call out wrongdoers who are closely related. Read More

As society becomes more automated, our trial system needs to identify new ways to cross-examine evidence generated by processes and machines, without requiring human witnesses to vouch for it. Read More

Law professor Ganesh Sitaraman says it may be possible to remove or reduce the influence of politics on the Supreme Court by leveraging the federal court of appeals. Read More

Legal immigrants with darker skin are paid up to 25 percent less than those with lighter skin, a wage penalty that widened significantly several years after receiving permanent legal status. Read More

Making an accusation about unethical business practices undermines trust in the accused and enhances trust in the accuser, but only if the accusation is made in good faith, according to new research led by Vanderbilt business professor Jessica Kennedy. Read More

Vanderbilt law professor Jessica Clarke has developed a legal toolkit for making policies and regulations more inclusive of nonbinary gender identities. Read More

Too often, courts will exclude or minimize evidence of explicit bias when considering discrimination claims out of an overabundance of caution, but that approach only further entrenches the inequality that gave rise to the claim in the first place, finds law professor Jessica Clarke. Read More

Carbon labeling may be an effective way to not only help consumers to choose foods with smaller carbon footprints, but also incentivize companies to make environmentally positive changes to their supply chains. Read More

Research by Tim Meyer suggests that selective enforcement of trade rules in unexpected ways has penalized renewable industries while propping up those that rely on exhaustible natural resources. Read More

[vustarinfo] Kelly Goldsmith, associate professor of marketing at Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management, is available to discuss shopping behavior on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. She studies how the perception of scarcity drives consumer behavior. Reminders of scarcity prompt consumers… Read More

Kejia Hu has developed an improved method for forecasting the lifecycle of novel tech products that incorporates historical sales data from similar products with business insights to estimate demand. Read More

Labor unions help working mothers take better advantage of their maternity leave benefits but could do more to mitigate the wage penalties that women experience following maternity leave. Read More

Temporary political uncertainty, such as a gubernatorial election, influences the frequency and types of disclosures managers make about their business activities, according to new research by Owen finance professor Josh White. Read More