This research roundtable will examine the economic justifications and theories underlying the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) and will analyze ways that regulatory changes around it or increased regulation of vaccines might have effects on VICP’s purposes and effectiveness. Scholars from various fields, including law, economics, and science are welcome to apply. Arguably, VICP was formed to economically stabilize the U.S. vaccine market through liability protection and to ensure supply would be balanced while creating an efficient compensation forum. Is that purpose empirically supportable? How will proposed increased liability through tort litigation or regulation, through the courts and/or state or federal legislative proposals, likely threaten the effectiveness of VICP, if at all?
Eligible papers could examine costs not just for producers but also for other institutions which must internalize the costs of the regulatory and liability environment and to whom costs might shift in the absence of VICP.
A commitment to participate in person at the Roundtable is required for an author’s application to be considered, and such participation is required, among other submission obligations, in order to receive the honorarium.
A non-exhaustive list of potential topics is listed below:
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Examination of the economic justifications for the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP).
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Examination of no-fault compensation as a public trust and access mechanism. Could VICP be characterized as not just a liability protection system but also a pro-patient and pro-access system? Such a paper would compare no-fault compensation mechanisms with tort litigation mechanisms to evaluate their respective comparative effectiveness along metrics of speed, predictability, public trust, and equitable access.
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Examination of whether proposed regulatory efforts are sensible from an economic perspective, or whether they might undermine VICP’s purposes or create dynamic effects, including unintended imposition of, or increase in, costs and obligations on governments (such as, for example, increased Medicaid costs) and private payors?
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Examination of whether efforts to chip away at the protections available under VICP might have unintended ripple effects with systemic consequences, including driving future health care policy decisions in response.
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Examination of the role, purposes, and utility of preemption and liability exemptions for managing the predictable scope and institutional allocation of costs of regulation and litigation.
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Examination of the drivers of innovation and research and development. What need is there for predictable costs for purposes of incentivizing research, innovation, and development of vaccines and other drugs; and how are these incentives affected by liability exposure?
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Examination of whether VICP operates as an economic stabilizer and the overarching economic consequences of shifting vaccine injury claims from VICP to tort litigation. The paper could estimate how increased liability would affect vaccine prices, procurement, supply reliability, and downstream public health costs.
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Examination of the state fiscal impacts of vaccine liability legislation. Will liability schemes proposed in state legislation likely reduce access or increase costs? Will there be dynamic effects on the availability of vaccines and what effect might that have on public health, including increased risk of adverse medical effects, including outbreaks of disease or infections? If public health is adversely affected, will proposed legislation have unintended consequences for higher Medicaid, public health, school, outbreak response, and uncompensated care costs?
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Examination of potential cascading impacts of VICP modifications on local public health providers. Per statute, VICP protects the individual who administers a covered vaccine (in addition to the manufacturer). If VICP protections significantly shift, or go away, there may be more lawsuits targeting these providers, requiring states to fund the legal bills or the malpractice insurance of the state employee which could further deplete already limited funds and could deter continued investment and funding in vaccine program implementation and administration. Can proposed changes be modelled to evaluate these kinds of potential impacts?
Dates and Deadlines
1. Submission of Research Proposal – Submission Deadline of August 3, 2026:
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Paper proposals will be considered, and acceptances granted on a rolling basis, so early submission is encouraged. The absolute deadline for proposals is Monday, August 3, 2026 at 5:00 pm EST.
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Proposals should include a brief abstract of the proposed paper and should address the feasibility of completion by the required deadlines. Proposals should be no longer than three pages. Successful applicants will be notified by Monday, August 17, 2026.
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Paper proposals should be accompanied by an updated CV and a link to the author’s website bio. Prior work in this field should also be highlighted where appropriate.
2. Research Roundtable, (November 13 to November 15, 2026):
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Selected authors will present well-developed drafts of their papers at a private research roundtable in an easily-accessible city to be designated soon. This research roundtable is designed to provide authors with constructive feedback from expert academics and practitioners in the field. In addition to the paper, authors are expected to serve as commentators on all papers. The research roundtable will also provide at least one additional commentator per paper who will join the roundtable. This peer review process ensures every draft paper undergoes significant scrutiny and receives substantial feedback for improvement. Research roundtable drafts should represent substantial work beyond the proposal, and they should be suitable for presentation at a faculty workshop. Authors chosen to present will be provided an honorarium of $4,000 per paper after timely submission of their draft and presentation of their work at the November roundtable. Roundtable drafts will be circulated to participants two weeks prior to the roundtable and are therefore due by October 30, 2026.
3. Completion of final draft, posting to SSRN, submission to a suitable academic journal, and draft and commitment to submit to publication of an op-ed (February 1, 2027):
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Authors are expected to complete a final draft, post their paper to SSRN, and draft and commit to submit an op-ed for publication by February 1, 2027. The LEC will also host these drafts on its website (http://masonlec.org). Upon completion of these requirements, authors will receive a final honorarium for the remaining balance of $4,000 – $8,000 per paper. As a condition of receiving final payment, authors must commit to seek publication in a suitable academic journal by February 1, 2027.
In addition to providing honoraria, the LEC will provide lodging and group meals at the research roundtable. Participants will be responsible for their own transportation arrangements and expenses.
To submit a proposal for the Roundtable, please apply here. For questions about the Roundtable, please contact Gwendolyn Watson at [email protected] or 703-993-8388.
Established in 2010 to honor the legacy of Henry G. Manne – legendary former Dean of the Antonin Scalia Law School, founder of the Law & Economics Center, and one of the founding fathers of the law and economics movement – the program seeks to improve the quality of legal scholarship by offering educational workshops on important and topical areas of study.