Jeffrey Wagner Headshot

Jeffrey Wagner

Professor

Department of Economics
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-5289
Office Hours
Tuesdays 11am-12:30pm and by appointment
Office Location

Jeffrey Wagner

Professor

Department of Economics
College of Liberal Arts

Education

AB, University of Missouri; MS, Ph.D., University of Illinois-Urbana

Bio

Jeffrey Wagner is a Professor of Economics at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where he regularly teaches undergraduate courses in environmental economics, industrial organization, and microeconomics. Most of his research focuses on the economics of sustainable management of various waste types including municipal solid waste, low-level radioactive waste, and satellite debris in low Earth orbit. His research has appeared in journals in several disciplines including Journal of Environmental Economics and Management; Environmental and Resource Economics; Journal of Regulatory Economics; Ecological Economics; Waste Management; Resources, Conservation & Recycling; Southern Economic Journal; International Review of Law and Economics; and Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment. Sixteen of his peer-reviewed publications are co-authored with his undergraduate students.  He is a former chair and undergraduate program director of the Economics Department.  At the RIT College of Liberal Arts level, his service includes terms on the Curriculum, Agenda, Promotion, and Tenure Committees.  At the Institute level, he’s served on the University Tenure Committee and as chair of the General Education Committee and of the provost’s Faculty Leave for Professional Development Committee.  He is a former president of the New York State Economics Association and he was a 2022-2023 Mentor in the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists’ professional development program.  Jeff joined the RIT faculty in 2001 

Select Scholarship

Journal Paper
Wagner, Jeffrey and Zachary Grzelka. "Constellation IP and Environmental Quality." Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences 17. 7 (2024): 1-9. Print.
Schwall, Aaron and Jeffrey Wagner. "The Persistence of Worthless Patents?" World Patent Information 72. March (2023): 102179. Print.
Multala, Brendan, Jeffrey Wagner, and Yiwei Wang. "Durability Standards and Clothing Libraries for Strengthening Sustainable Clothing Markets." Ecological Economics 194. (2022): 107358. Print.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Concrete Strategies for Economics Tenure-Track Faculty and Their Mentors." Eastern Economic Journal 47. 3 (2021): 449-459. Print.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Optimal Deterrence under Misperception of the Probability of Apprehension and the Magnitude of Sanctions." Economics Bulletin 41. 3 (2021): 2080-2088. Web.
Grzelka, Zachary and Jeffrey Wagner. "Managing Satellite Debris in Low-Earth Orbit: Incentivizing Ex Ante Satellite Quality and Ex Post Take-Back Programs." Environmental and Resource Economics 74. 1 (2019): 319-336. Print.
Hellman, Kelly, et al. "Estimating the Economic Impact of Stormwater Runoff in the Allen Creek Watershed." Ecological Economics 145. (2018): 420-429. Print.
Sprague, Christopher and Jeffrey Wagner. "Economic Motivations for Software Bug Bounties." Economics Bulletin 38. 1 (2018): 550-557. Web.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Humanities as Technology in Teaching Economics." International Review of Economics Education 25. (2017): 35-40. Print.
Schreck, Maximilian and Jeffrey Wagner. "Incentivizing Secondary Raw Material Markets for Sustainable Waste Management." Waste Management 67. (2017): 354-359. Print.
Hebda, Cam and Jeffrey Wagner. "Nudging Healthy Food Consumption and Sustainability in Food Deserts." Letters in Spatial & Resource Sciences 9. (2016): 57-71. Print.
Stone, Jonathan and Jeffrey Wagner. "Fairness and Efficiency in US Revolutionary War Takings and Post-War Debt Redemption." Constitutional Political Economy 27. (2016): 399-417. Print.
Krystofik, Mark, Jeffrey Wagner, and Gabrielle Gaustad. "Leveraging Intellectual Property Rights to Encourage Green Product Design and Remanufacturing for Sustainable Waste Management." Resources, Conservation, and Recycling 97. (2015): 44-54. Print.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "A Framework for Undergraduate Research in Economics." Southern Economic Journal 82. 2 (2015): 668-672. Print.
Macksamie, Kevin, Jeffrey Wagner, and Juan Cockburn. "Feedback Control for Ecosystem Management: The Case of Wolf-Elk-Hunting Dynamics in the US Mountain West." Journal of Mountain Science 11. 4 (2014): 850-865. Print.
Kinler, Kyle and Jeffrey Wagner. "Greenness Versus Safety in Vehicle Footprint Selection." Letters in Spatial and Resource Sciences 7. 1 (2014): 35-45. Print.
Petre, Alex and Jeffrey Wagner. "Green Consumption Under Misperceived Prices: An Application to Active Transportation." Southern Economic Journal 80. 1 (2013): 187-204. Print.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "American Georgics and Globalization: Literary and Economic Co-evolution in Three Enclosure Movements." Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment 20. 1 (2013): 71-84. Print.
Longo, Christine and Jeffrey Wagner. "Bridging Legal and Economic Perspectives on Interstate Municipal Solid Waste Disposal in the U.S." Waste Management 31. 1 (2011): 147-153. Print.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Incentivizing Sustainable Waste Management." Ecological Economics 70. 4 (2011): 585-594. Print.
Pugliese, Tyler and Jeffrey Wagner. "Competing Impure Public Goods and the Sustainability of the Theater Arts." Economics Bulletin 31. 2 (2011): 1295-1303. Web.
Invited Keynote/Presentation
Wagner, Jeffrey and John Stranlund. "The Environmental Law and Economics of Hazardous Waste Regulations." Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Annual Meeting. AERE. Portland, Maine. 2 Jun. 2023. Conference Presentation.
Dortz, Michael and Jeffrey Wagner. "Raising Rivals’ Costs and Right-to-Repair Laws: Separating the Sheep from the Goats?" American Law and Economics Association Annual Meeting. ALEA/Columbia Law School. New York City, New York. 5 Aug. 2022. Conference Presentation.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Economics of IP in Sustainable Waste Management with Application to Managing Satellite Debris in Low-Earth Orbit." Association of Environmental and Resource Economists Annual Meeting. AERE. Miami, FL. 4 Jun. 2022. Conference Presentation.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Economics of IP in Sustainable Waste Management with Application to Managing Satellite Debris in Low-Earth Orbit." Next Space 2021 European Symposium. Way4Space and University of Bordeaux. Bordeaux, France. 7 Dec. 2021. Conference Presentation.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Economics of IP in Sustainable Waste Management with Application to Managing Satellite Debris in Low-Earth Orbit." New York State Economics Association Annual Meeting. New York State Economics Association. Brooklyn, NY. 16 Oct. 2021. Conference Presentation.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Thoreau’s Micro Theory Prescience in Walden, Chapter One: ‘Economy’." 2020 Annual Conference of the New York State Economics Association. New York State Economics Association. Virtual, NY. 3 Oct. 2020. Conference Presentation.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Tort Reform, Public Harm, and Welfare." Economics Department Research Seminar. University of Missouri - Columbia. Virtual, MO. 6 Nov. 2020. Lecture.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Tort Reform, Public Harm, and Welfare." Department Research Seminar. Department of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois - Urbana. Virtual, IL. 30 Oct. 2020. Lecture.
Wagner, Jeffrey. "Tort Reform and Public Harm." Economics Department Research Seminar. University of Massachusetts - Lowell. Lowell, MA. 5 Feb. 2020. Lecture.
Published Article
Bhole, Bharat, and Jeffrey Wagner. “Punitive Damages and the Recklessness Requirement with Uninformed Injurers.” International Review of Law and Economics, 30.3 (2010): 253-268. Print. *

Currently Teaching

ECON-101
3 Credits
Microeconomics studies the workings of individual markets. That is, it examines the interaction of the demanders of goods and services with the suppliers of those goods and services. It explores how the behavior of consumers (demanders), the behavior of producers (suppliers), and the level of market competition influence market outcomes.
ECON-401
3 Credits
This course develops the tools that are commonly used to study the allocation of resources in a private enterprise economy. Topics covered include the theory of consumer behavior, cost and production, and alternate market structures.
ECON-407
3 Credits
The study of the structure, conduct and performance of contemporary American industry. Involves the application of the tools of microeconomic analysis and empirical evidence to aid in understanding the behavior of modern industry. In addition, the course considers the historical determinants of contemporary market structure and the public policy measures designed to preserve a competitive market structure. The course concludes with an examination of alternative intellectual property rights mechanisms and how alternative mechanisms impact firm-level and economy-level innovation rates.
ECON-520
3 Credits
This course examines the relationship and apparent conflict between economic growth and environmental quality, the economics of environmental issues and policy, the environment as a resource and a public good, and the ability and lack of ability of free markets and the government to deal adequately with pollution and other environmental problems.
ECON-620
3 Credits
This graduate course examines the relationship and apparent conflict between economic growth and environmental quality, the economics of environmental issues and policy, the environment as a resource and a public good, and the ability and lack of ability of free markets and governments to deal adequately with pollution and other environmental problems. While there is not a formal prerequisite for the course, some background in economics is very helpful.