Wagner, Adolf Heinrich Gotthilf

Wagner, Adolf Heinrich Gotthilf (ä`dôlf hīn`rĭkh gôt`hĭlf väg`nər), 1835–1917, 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 Wagner's law, that governments increasingly assume responsibility for the economic welfare of their peoples.