Ph.D. in health economics, University of California, Berkeley; M.A. in international development, University of California, San Diego
Zachary Wagner is an economist at the RAND Corporation and a professor of policy analysis at the Pardee RAND Graduate School. He is a health economist with training in both applied microeconomics and public health. His research uses economic theory and econometrics to study how people make decisions about health and health care around the globe. Wagner's global health expertise includes take-up of health technology, quality of care, conflict and health, health insurance for the poor, community health workers, HIV/AIDS, child diarrhea, private sector health care, and family planning. His domestic expertise includes the effects of health insurance on patient behavior, HIV/AIDS policy, and the opioid crisis.
Wagner's research uses a variety of methodologies including randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental evaluations, analysis of large secondary data sets, cost-effectiveness analysis, geospatial analysis, and mathematical modeling. He has ongoing projects in Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Pakistan, Uganda, India, and the U.S. Wagner's research has been featured in leading journals including The Lancet, BMJ, PLOS Medicine, Health Affairs, and the Journal of Development Economics. Prior to joining RAND, Wagner was a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford University. He holds a Ph.D. in health policy (economics track) from UC Berkeley and a Master's degree in international development from UC San Diego.
Zachary Wagner, Barbara Mukasa, Josephine Nakakande, Chad Stecher, Uzaib Saya, and Sebastian Linnemayr , "The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on use of HIV care, antiretroviral therapy adherence, and viral suppression: An observational cohort study from Uganda," JAIDS, 2021
Pascaline Dupas, Basimenye Nhlema, Zachary Wagner, Aaron Wolf, and Emily Wroe , "Expanding Access to Clean Water for the Rural Poor: Experimental Evidence from Malawi," AEJ: Economic Policy, 2021
Zachary Wagner, Sam Heft-Neal, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Robert E. Black, Marshall Burke, Eran Bendavid , "Armed Conflict and Child Health in Africa," The Lancet, 2018
Zachary Wagner, John Bosco Asiimwe, and David I. Levine, "“When Financial Incentives Backfire: Evidence from a community health worker experiment in Uganda”," Journal of Development Economics, 2019
Zachary Wagner, Sam Heft-Neal, Paul Wise, Robert E. Black, Marshall Burke, Ties Boerma, Zulfiqar A. Bhutta, Eran Bendavid , "Women and Children Living in Areas of Armed Conflict: a geospatial analysis of mortality and orphanhood in Africa," The Lancet Global Health, 2019
Zachary Wagner, Erick Gong, Damien de Walque, William H. Dow, "The Impact of Positive Income Shocks on Risky Sexual Behavior: Experimental Evidence from Tanzania," Aids and Behavior, 2016
Zachary Wagner, John Bosco Asiimwe, William H. Dow, and David I. Levine, "The role of price and convenience in use of oral rehydration salts to treat child diarrhea: A cluster randomized trial in Uganda," PLOS Medicine, 2019
Zachary Wagner, Jeremy Barofsky, and Neeraj Sood, "PEPFAR Funding Associated With An Increase In Employment Among Males in Ten Sub-Saharan African Countries," Health Affairs, 2015
