The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator at Vanderbilt University brings people together to think deeply about new ideas in political economy and regulatory policy. It recently opened new positions aimed at researchers, scholars, policy advocates, government officials, political staffers, and others that are interested in rethinking these fields. Be sure to check out their Director of Competition & Regulatory Policy and Fellow in Networks, Platforms & Utilities Law positions, which may be of special interest to those of you working on money and banking!
More from the Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator:
We are seeking researchers, scholars, policy advocates, government officials, and political staffers who want to help write the next chapter in the history of American political economy. From the resurgence of antitrust enforcement to the return of industrial policy, swift changes are reshaping how policymakers and the general public think about economic policy. At VPA, we act on these opportunities by bringing new ideas into academia, government, and the public conversation, while paying close attention to issues of market power and the capacity of public institutions to address today’s most pressing challenges.
Organizationally, VPA combines the deep research capacities of a traditional university center with the most effective tactics of a think tank. We are looking for policy analysts to power research and policy proposals that range from modernizing American banking regulation to reforming the airline industry to addressing food deserts via public grocery stores. We need senior managers and technical experts to direct our dynamic policy projects, from leading our efforts in competition policy and public utilities regulation to standing up our new Tech Policy Blueprints Initiative.
Director of AI & Technology Policy
The Director of AI & Technology Policy will lead research and develop policy proposals to improve AI and tech governance. VPA is expanding its efforts in AI and tech policy as part of a new Tech Policy Blueprints Initiative. The Director of AI & Technology Policy will lead this initiative, which involves developing a suite of detailed, actionable policy recommendations for state and federal policymakers, including legislative drafts and executive branch actions.
Director of Competition & Regulatory Policy
The Director of Competition and Regulatory Policy runs the policy and research portfolio associated with the Project on Networks, Platforms, and Utilities (NPUs) and related antimonopoly policy efforts. Many pressing challenges in public policy stem from NPUs, including supply chain issues in railroads, airline flight cancellations, broadband internet access, electric grid crashes, the emergence of nonbank money, and anticompetitive practices on tech platforms. From the middle ages to the 1970s a distinct set of regulations governed NPUs, but these tools were largely abandoned with deregulation. We seek to revive the study and use of NPU tools and understand when and how regulatory solutions like structural separations can address widespread issues like corporate concentration.
Director of Public Options & Governance
The Director of Public Options and Governance advances research and policy solutions that expand access, enhance competition, and increase opportunity to critical goods and services for American consumers, families, and communities by promoting state capacity building and good governance practices. Topics of interest include federal procurement practices and public options—publicly-provided goods and services that coexist with the private marketplace.
Senior Policy Analyst / Policy Analyst
Policy analysts perform research, policy analysis, and scholarly writing independently and in collaboration with other VPA staff members. They aid our mission to translate ideas and research into workable blueprints for policymakers, help organize public conferences and events, and research and write at a high level for a variety of different audiences. We are looking for more experienced researchers to serve as senior policy analysts; however, we also welcome applications from those earlier in their career who want to build technical policy expertise and work closely with VPA’s Faculty Director and senior VPA leaders.
Fellow in Networks, Platforms & Utilities Law
This two-year NPU fellowship is designed to support individuals who are interested in becoming law professors in the field of networks, platforms, and utilities, defined broadly as including transportation, communications, energy, banking, and tech platforms, and cross-cutting issues and themes across these sectors. The NPU fellow is expected to write academic articles for publication in legal journals, participate in the NPU workshop and annual NPU conference, and go on the academic job market in the second year of the fellowship. The NPU fellow will receive mentoring and guidance from Vanderbilt law faculty.
Legal Fellows (for current law students)
Legal fellows connect with other law students from around the country and support VPA’s cutting-edge work in political economy. Students should be interested in an academic, legal, or policy-oriented career in political economy and regulation, including networks, platforms, and utilities (NPU) law (especially tech, banking, transportation, energy, and telecom); antitrust and competition policy; public options; and/or industrial policy and national economic security.
Please reach out to our Executive Director Grace May (grace.m.may@vanderbilt.edu) with any questions or other ideas for how to get involved with VPA and collaborate.
The Vanderbilt Policy Accelerator focuses on cutting-edge topics in political economy and regulation to swiftly bring research and policy proposals from infancy to maturity. To learn more about our work, visit vu.edu/vpa.