Monday, September 10, 2001

By Kim Cano, PR Intern

Wilmington, NC - The University of North Carolina at Wilmington’s Dr. William M. Wadman, associate professor of Economics in the Cameron School of Business, has published a book titled Variable Quality in Consumer Theory, Toward a Dynamic Microeconomic Theory of the Consumer. Dr. Wadman attributes part of the book’s success to its groundbreaking approach to variable quality.

In the introduction to the book, Dr.Wadman explains he sets out to, “gain a better understanding of how economists define and measure quality, ” specifically in retail markets. Dr.Wadman defines quality as being “analogous to beauty” and he attaches that to the concept of self, which according to Wadman makes economists “uncomfortable.” He expressed that economists can look at issues of quality, consumption experience and willingness to pay, through the consumer’s point of view, instead of depending on quantifiable and market data. Variable Quality presents a methodology for economists as well as marketing professionals, to approach quality decision making in a more subjective way. He also includes interpretation and explanations on different consumer theorists such as James Duesenberry and Henri Theil. The book is a mixture of economic theory and innovative practices in that field.

Dr.Wadman received his Ph.D. in economics from Claremont Graduate School in 1976. He worked as a health economist in the California State Department of Health, and as a research scientist with the Center for Health Studies, Research Triangle Institute in North Carolina. He has also done some work in Latin America, Africa, and Central Asia. In 1989 he worked in Chile as a Fulbright professor.

Dr. Wadman has incorporated his experiences abroad in his teaching at UNCW by sharing what he has learned and by bringing in foreign students and professors to talk about their countries of origin and perhaps give students a more well rounded and culturally vibrant atmosphere. He wants to teach students to “appreciate what they have, here in the United States,” he said.

His book has also been very well received in Europe. Dr.Wadman was invited to give a series of four lectures at the Max Planck Institute in Germany in May 2001, where his findings and ideas were enthusiastically received.

Currently, Dr.Wadman is working on a second edition of Variable Quality in Consumer Theory. He will also have a paper published in Germany titled "Technological Change, Human Capital and Extinction." He hopes to have this work published in the United States in the near future as well.

Variable Quality in Consumer Theory was published in May 2000 by M.E. Sharpe publishers .

More information on Dr.Wadman is available on the Web at: www.csb.uncwil.edu/people2/wadmanw.htm as well as a picture and book cover available for download at www.uncwil.edu/news/releases/september01/wadman_book.html

More information on M.E. Sharpe publishers is available online at www.mesharpe.com.