Viscusi Is Tenured at Law School

W. Kip Viscusi '71, an expert on the impact of legal regulation on society, was awarded tenure to Harvard Law School, Dean Robert C. Clark announced on August 30.

Viscusi, who becomes the first Cogan professor of law and economics, was recruited from Duke University, where he was director of the university's Program on Risk Analysis and Civil Liability.

"Professor Viscusi is one of the premier empirical specialists concerned with the impact of the legal system on society," Clark said in a statement. "His work focuses in a systematic way on the actual effects of laws and legal regulation. Such work is necessary to improve the rationality and grounding of debates about, and reforms of, the legal system."

Viscusi has received four degrees from Harvard--his bachelor's, a master's in public policy from the Kennedy School, and a master's and a Ph.D. in economics--and said he was pleased to be coming home again.

"I am delighted to come to Harvard Law School," he said. "The faculty and the Law School administration are enthusiastic about increasing the empirical component of the curriculum and legal research. Harvard Law School has the potential to become the leading center for research that uses formal statistical analyses to assess the broad economic ramifications of legal rules."

Viscusi is a prolific author whose publications include 15 books and 200 articles, most dealing with aspects of risk.

The new professor's research has also been used widely in government. He has been consulted by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Justice, among others. In particular, Viscusi's estimates of the value of life and health are used throughout the federal government. The Washington Post once dubbed him the "Reagan Administration's Expert on the Value of Life."