Richard E. Wagner is the Hobart R. Harris Professor of Economics at George Mason University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Virginia in 1966. He joined the faculty of George Mason University in 1988, after having held positions at The University of California, Irvine, Tulane University, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Auburn University and Florida State University.

Professor Wagner's fields of interest include public finance, macroeconomics, and political economy. He is the author of over 200 articles in professional journals and some 30 books and monographs, including Inheritance and the State, Democracy in Deficit, The Fiscal Organization of American Federalism, To Promote the General Welfare, Public Finance in a Democratic Society, and Public Choice and Constitutional Economics. He serves in an advisory relationship to such organizations as the Independent Institute, the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, the James Madison Institute for Public Policy Studies, the Public Interest Institute, and the Virginia Institute for Public Policy.