Education

2008 Bradley University, B.S./B.M.
2014 University of Wyoming, Ph.D.

Courses Taught

Game Theory
Intermediate Microeconomics
Environmental Economics and Management
Principles of Microeconomics
Foundational Economics for Managers (graduate-level)

Career Specialties

Aaron D. Wood is a microeconomist with research and teaching fields that include game theory, agent-based modeling, environmental and natural resource economics, and behavioral and experimental economics.

Professional and Community Activities

Wood’s primary research agenda combines evolutionary game theory and agent-based modeling into a methodological toolkit to advance economics as an evolutionary science and to study a class of behavioral problems difficult to address with orthodox economics techniques. In particular, his approach studies problems in which economic agents learn, experiment, act on emotion and rely on heuristics to guide their choices within strategic settings that develop across time. Research in this area includes analyzing the evolution of global petroleum markets in the 1960s and 1970s. This work is coauthored with Charles F. Mason and David Finnoff and published in the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization and Springer Nature Business & Economics. Other work, coauthored with Kevin Berry and published in Economics & Human Biology, examines COVID-19 transmission and public policy in resource-dependent communities.

Additionally, Wood conducts research in the areas of behavioral and experimental economics, environmental and natural resource economics, and economics education, among others. He published a paper examining the impact of information on consumer behavior in the context of climate change with Jason F. Shogren and Onur Sapci in Climatic Change, he published a paper on teaching artificially-scarce goods in introductory microeconomics in the International Review of Economics Education, and he published three papers on intergenerational narcissism and higher education with Karla Borja and Leon Hoke in the Journal of Management Education, College Teaching, and the Academy of Economics and Finance Journal. A paper with Jody Tompson and Andrea Cardoni on the impact of strategic alliances on firm performance was published in the International Journal of Enterprise Network Management. Current research includes studying optimal Pigouvian taxes in the context of climate change, resource use, and population growth, modeling behavior in online health communities, and examining schadenfreude in the context of antisocial online behavior.

Wood has presented his research at regional and national conferences, and he is a reviewer for several journals in the areas of environmental economics, energy economics, and economics education. He has experience as a consultant for private firms and government, primarily conducting economic impact analyses and consulting for lawsuits and legal matters in sectors that include energy, natural resources, hospitality and tourism. Wood is also a jazz pianist, and he is active in the Episcopal Church.

Honors and Awards

2020 Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award (this award recognizes the teacher of the year in the Sykes College of Business)
2014 PIE (Promoting Intellectual Engagement in the First Year) Teaching Award Winner at Wyoming
2013 PIE (Promoting Intellectual Engagement in the First Year) Teaching Award Winner at Wyoming
2012-2013 Anadarko Fellowship for Excellence in Energy Scholarship