The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07.
Wagner, Adolf Heinrich Gotthilf
(ä´dôlf hn´rkh gôt´hlf väg´nr) (KEY) , 18351917, German economist and socialist, studied at Göttingen and Heidelberg. He taught economics at several universities before becoming professor of economics at the Univ. of Berlin, a post he held for many years. He was an authority on banking and public finance and was a member of the Christian Socialist party. He promulgated a theory, known as Wagners law, that governments increasingly assume responsibility for the economic welfare of their peoples.