Prof. Dr. Gert G. Wagner

Gert G. Wagner passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on January 28, 2024, at the age of 71.

Gert G. Wagner was Professor of Economics, Senior Research Fellow at the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, Max Planck Fellow at the MPI for Human Development (Berlin), Research Associate of the Alexander von Hmboldt-Institute for Internet and Society (HIIG) in Berlin, Research Associate at the Harding-Center for Risk Literacy at the University of Potsdam and  member of the "National Academy of Science and Engineering (acatech)".

Wagner served on the evaluation panel of the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO).

In 2018 Gert G. Wagner received a honoris causa doctorate (Dr. rer. pol. h.c.) from the Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences of the University of Cologne (Universitaet zu Koeln). In 2018 Wagner was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2007 he was  awarded the "Knight's Cross") .

Wagner was chairman of The Social Advisory Council (Sozialbeirat), a member of the German Science Council (Wissenschaftsrat), an elected reviewer of German National Science Foundation (DFG), a member  of the Methodolgy and Infrastructure Committees (MIC) of ESRC/UK, the Advisory Board to the British Household Panel study (BHPS) and the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), and of the user selection panel of the European Large Scale Facility European Centre for Analysis in the Social Sciences (ECASS), University of Essex. He was the first treasurer of the Society for the Study of Economic Inequality (ECINEQ).

Wagner was chairman of the Census Commission  and he served as an expert 2003-04 on the German Council of Experts on Immigration and Integration, on the German Data Forum (RatSWD), on the Federal Commission for the Sustainability of Financing the Welfare State, on the Advisory Board to the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, and  he was a member of the Study Commissions "Growth, Wealth and Well-Being" and "Demographic Change" of the German Parliament (Enquete Kommissionen "Wachstum, Wohlstand, Lebensqualitaet" und "Demographischer Wandel" des Deutschen Bundestags)

From 1989-2011 Wagner was director of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) study, from 2011 - 2013 he was President of the German Institute for Economic Research Berlin and from 2002-2018 he was Full Professor of Economics at the Berlin University of Technology (TUB), 1997-2002 Full Professor of Economics at Viadrina European University of Frankfurt (Oder) and 1992-97 Full Professor of Public Administration at Ruhr-University Bochum. In the academic years 2008  to 2010 Wagner taught as a fellow at the Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies in the University of Erfurt.

Wagner was visiting professor at Cornell University, Syracuse University and American University, Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar at numerous research institutes in Germany and the US. He is a research fellow of the CESifo Research Network, Munich, and of IZA (Institute of Labor Economics), Bonn.

Among others, Wagner received grants under the European Framework Programs, from the German-American Academic Council, the National Institute on Aging (USA), G.I.F., Anglo-German Foundation (AFG), TESS (USA), and the German National Science Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft).

In celebration of Gert G. Wagner’s 65th birthday, he was presented with a Festschrift in his honor: Innovation und Wissenstransfer in der empirischen Sozial- und Verhaltenforschung (innovation and knowledge transfer in the social and behavioral sciences), edited by Marcel Erlinghagen, Karsten Hank, and Michaela Kreyenfeld, Frankfurt am Main and New York: CAMPUS.

Wagner published papers in international journals such as Ageing & Society, Behavior Genetics, Behavior Research Methods, Biology of Sex Difference, British Medical Journal, Collabra: Psychlogy, Developmental Psychology, Emotion, European Journal of Personality, European Journal of Public Health, European Economic Review, Environmental Policy and Governance, Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance, International Journal of Epidemiology, International Migration Review, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of the European Economic Association, Journals of Gerontolgy, Journal of Official Statistics, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Journal of Public Economics, LIBER Quarterly, LIBREAS, Nature Genetics, PLoS one, Population and Development Review, PNAS, Psychology and Aging, Psychlogical Science, Scientific Reports and Survey Research Methods as well as Communication/Letters in Nature and Science.

Obituary (PDF, 149.71 KB)