John T. Wenders (1935–2006) was a Research Fellow at the Independent Institute, Professor of Economics, Emeritus, at the University of Idaho and Senior Fellow at The Commonwealth Foundation. He received an A.B. from Amherst College, M.A.s from the University of Hawaii and Northwestern University, and a Ph.D. from Northwestern University, all in economics.
He is the author of many publications and has been an economic consultant to major corporations and government agencies in the US, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Canada. His field of specialization is regulatory economics, which is concerned with the interaction between government ownership, control, and regulation and its effects on economic efficiency. As an expert in telecommunications, electric power, urban water and antitrust, Professor Wenders has testified on various economic matters over 125 times before various regulatory agencies and courts in almost all US states.
Professor Wenders’ research interests were in the economics of education, including an analysis of a forecast of teacher supply and demand produced by the Idaho Board of Education, an analysis of teacher compensation in the US and Idaho, and an analysis of the relative efficiency of US pubic schools.
