Richard E. Wagner has spent more than five decades in academia, holding professorship and leadership positions at the University of California Irvine, Tulane University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Auburn University, Florida State University, and George Mason University. He has contributed to the fields of public finance, macroeconomics, and political economy in more than 200 journal articles and 30 books. Economics in Wagner’s hands is about exchange and the institutions within which exchange takes place. As a result, much of his scholarship explores how politics, law, and society shape economic relationships.
Generous and wise in his relationships with colleagues and students, Wagner is an exemplar of a lifelong learner. Through his example, Wagner continues to teach us all how to prioritize the sheer joy of learning and how to maintain a sense of urgency in our teaching, and how to avoid getting caught up in negative-sum interactions.
In honor of Wagner’s 80th birthday and retirement from George Mason University in 2021, a group of his colleagues and students gathered to reflect upon and honor his productive career and to advance research inspired by his work. This Festschrift, edited by Peter J. Boettke and Christopher J. Coyne, includes original essays and reflections that pay tribute to a prolific scholar whose research and teaching have profoundly shaped mainline political economy.
The Legacy of Richard E. Wagner should be of interest to anyone inspired by Wagner’s research as well as students, scholars, and policymakers interested in the real-world implications of sound economic theory.
Table of Content
About Richard E. Wagner
Introduction: Richard E. Wagner-A Scholar and Teacher of the Honorable Tradition of Political Economy
Peter J. Boettke and Christopher J. Coyne
1: Thinking Differently about Institutions: The Entangled Political Economy of Richard E. Wagner
Meg Tuszynski
2: Untangling Political Economy
Randall G. Holcombe
3: The Epistemic Origins of Richard E. Wagner’s Realist Defense of Liberalism
Marta Podemska-Mikluch
4: Emergence, Process, and the Asymmetries of Regulation:
Wagnerian Political Economy
Diana W. Thomas and Michael D. Thomas
5: Public Choice, Behavioral Symmetry, and the Ethics of Citizenship
Viktor J. Vanberg
6: Constitutional Systems, the Crisis of Governance, and the Entangled Political Economy Perspective
Paul Dragos Aligica
7: The Entangled Mind
James Caton
8: Wagnerian Relationality
Mikayla Novak
9: Network Effects and the Dynamics of Polity and Economy in Society
Santiago J. Gangotena
10: Seven Stepping Stones to a Systems Theory of Economics
Abigail N. Devereaux
11: Cryptomacroeconomics
Jason Potts, Chris Berg, and Sinclair Davidson
12: Finance in a Theory of Money
Cameron Harwick
13: Expressive Entrepreneurship
Adam Martin and Vincent Miozzi
Richard E. Wagner: Published Works
About the Contributors
Index
About the author
Christopher Coyne is associate director of the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics and F. A. Harper Professor of Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and associate professor of economics and director of graduate studies in the economics department at George Mason University.