W. Kip Viscusi Named to Inaugural Cohort of Southern Economic Association’s Distinguished Fellows

The Southern Economic Association (SEA) presented and honored W. Kip Viscusi as part of its inaugural cohort of Distinguished Fellows on November 19, 2023 during its 93rd Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA.

The inaugural cohort consists of all living past Presidents of the Association, who are at least two years removed from office.

The SEA Board unanimously approved a resolution creating a Distinguished Fellows Program at its 92nd Annual Meeting. Distinguished Fellows have a substantial record of exceptional scholarly achievement and long-term involvement and service to the Association. Following this initial cohort, no more than two Distinguished Fellows will be recognized in any one year.

W. Kip Viscusi Serves on OMB Peer Review Committee

In 2023, W. Kip Viscusi served on the Office of Management and Budget Peer Review Committee of Circular A-4, which is the guidance document for economic analysis of government regulations. His comments will be published in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis and are available to view on SSRN.

W. Kip Viscusi Joins Inaugural Group of Fellows of the Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis

The Society Fellows Program recognizes people who have made substantial contributions to the theory or practice for benefit-cost analysis. This program enhances the ability of SBCA to recognize outstanding achievements in the field of benefit-cost analysis. Awardees must have demonstrated a significant contribution to the theory and/or practice of benefit-cost analysis. While not essential, participation in SBCA, SBCA-sponsored events, and publication in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis will be considered to be important aspects of an individual’s contribution.

W. Kip Viscusi Awarded the American Risk and Insurance Association's Kulp-Wright Book Award

Viscusi has received the American Risk and Insurance Association’s 2020 Kulp-Wright Book Award for Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society, making it his fifth book award from the association. The award recognizes a risk management and insurance book or monograph that advances the body of knowledge toward new frontiers.

W. Kip Viscusi Awarded Prestigious Earl Sutherland Prize by Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt’s most prestigious faculty honor for accomplishments in research, scholarship or creative expression was awarded to W. Kip Viscusi during the Fall Faculty Assembly on August 22nd.

Viscusi, University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics and Management, was awarded the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research during the ceremony at the Student Life Center.

“As the author behind more than 360 articles and over two dozen books, Kip is one of the most prominent and prolific economists in the world,” Interim Chancellor Susan R. Wente said. “His watershed research on the statistical valuation of life has changed how scholars and government regulators approach benefits. His work is an example of how innovations in social science can radically inform policy and public affairs, therefore changing human lives for the better.”

W. Kip Viscusi (center), University Distinguished Professor of Law, Economics and Management, was awarded the Earl Sutherland Prize for Achievement in Research by Interim Chancellor and Provost Susan R. Wente (left) and Faculty Senate Chair John McLean (right) during the 2019 Fall Faculty Assembly.

Viscusi, the co-founder and co-director of Vanderbilt’s Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics, is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading authorities on benefit-cost analysis. His research focuses on a wide range of individual and societal responses to risk and uncertainty, including risky behaviors, government regulation and tort liability.

Viscusi’s latest book, Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society, shows how innovations in social science can radically inform policy and public affairs, thereby changing human lives for the better.

The Sutherland Prize includes a cash award of $10,000 and an engraved julep cup. In addition, Viscusi’s name will be engraved alongside past Sutherland Prize winners on a silver bowl that he will keep for one year.

W. Kip Viscusi Awarded SBCA’s Best Article of the Year Award

Kip Viscusi was awarded the Best Article Award (2019) for his article “Best Estimate Selection Bias in the Value of a Statistical Life” that appears in the Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis. Award recipients are those who the annual committee deems to have written the best articles published in this journal in the prior year.

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

Viscusi will serve as SEA’s president-elect for the next year. His one-year term as the organization’s president will start in November 2019. When his term as president concludes in November 2020, he will continue to serve on SEA’s board through November 2022.

The SEA is one of the oldest regional economics associations in the United States. From its founding in 1928, the SEA’s purpose has been to further the education of scholars and the public in economic affairs, seeking to stimulate interest in and disseminate results of recent research in theory and applied economics. The organization has published the Southern Economic Journal since 1933; it is the eighth oldest American scholarly journal in economics. SEA holds an annual conference for its members, who include a diverse set of scholars, with a great range in their substantive interests and in their methods of inquiry, at which scholars representing all fields of economic research and economists around the world are invited to present their work. As president-elect, Viscusi will be responsible for organizing the 2019 SEA conference.

W. Kip Viscusi wins 2018 SBCA Outstanding Achievement Award

Kip Viscusi was the 2018 recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award from the Society of Benefit-Cost Analysis. This award was established in 2016 by the SBCA to recognize individuals who make significant contributions in the field of benefit-cost analysis.

Vanderbilt Law School hosts celebration for "Pricing Lives" book release

On September 13, 2018, Vanderbilt Law School celebrated the release of Kip Viscusi’s book, Pricing Lives: Guideposts for a Safer Society (Princeton University Press, 2018). In addition to Kip’s lecture about his new book, Cass Sunstein, Kip’s former colleague at Harvard Law School and prominent behavioral economist, gave a presentation at the event. A reception and book signing followed.