# Charles Wolf Jr.

Charles Wolf Jr. (August 1, 1924 – October 24, 2016) was a senior economic advisor at the RAND Corporation (June 23, 1955 – October 24, 2016). He was also a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and was on the advisory board of the Center for International Business and Economic Research at the UCLA Anderson School of Management. He was a board member of Capital Income Builder and of Capital World Growth and Income, Inc., and a member of the American Economic Association, the Econometric Society, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London. He is noted for predicting the economic collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Wolf’s research focused on how economic forces shape the international political environment and how economic instruments can advance U.S. and Western interests. This way of thinking has been a complement to the political and military analyses that typically dominate these discussions. His research also contributed to the respective competencies of market forces and governments.

## Career

Wolf served as a Foreign Service Officer with the United States Department of State (1945–1947, 1949–1953). In the early 1950s, he was a visiting professor of economics and Asian studies at Cornell University and an assistant professor of economics and Far East studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the RAND Corporation in 1955 and headed the Economics Department from 1967 to 1981. In 1965 his name appeared on a list of academics involved with Project Camelot. He served as founding dean of the Frederick S. Pardee RAND Graduate School from 1970 to 1997; he taught at the school until his death. He died after going into cardiac arrest on October 24, 2016, at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

## Awards

In 2007, Wolf received the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon, from the government of Japan. He was recognized for helping to nurture U.S. public opinion that was favorable to Japan.

## Education

Wolf received BS, Masters, and PhD degrees in economics from Harvard University.BS was earned before service in WW II, the latter two degrees after his foreign service immediately after the War in the Pacific.

## Selected publications

* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Economic Development and Mutual Security: Some Problems of U.S. Foreign Assistance Programs in Southeast Asia, RAND Corporation, RM-1778-RC, 1956 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_memoranda/RM1778.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Foreign Aid: Theory and Practice in Southern Asia, Princeton University Press, 1960
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Insurgency and Counterinsurgency: New Myths and Old Realities, RAND Corporation, P-3132-1, 1965 https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3132-1.html
* Leites, Nathan, and Charles Wolf, Jr., Rebellion and Authority: Myths and Realities Reconsidered, RAND Corporation, P-3422, 1966 https://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/P3422.html
* Leites, Nathan, and Charles Wolf, Jr., Rebellion and Authority: An Analytic Essay on Insurgent Conflicts, RAND Corporation, R-462-ARPA, 1970 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R0462.html Also published by Markham Publishing Company, Chicago, 1970
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Marilee Lawrence, Aaron S. Gurwitz, Edmund D. Brunner, K.C. Yeh, The Costs of the Soviet Empire, RAND Corporation, R-3073/1-NA, 1983 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3073z1.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Don Henry, K.C. Yeh, James H. Hayes, John F. Schank, Richard L. Sneider, The Changing Balance: South and North Korean Capabilities for Long-Term Military Competition, RAND Corporation, R-3305/1-NA, 1985 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3305z1.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., The Rise of Market Forces, RAND Corporation, N-2761-RC, 1988 https://www.rand.org/pubs/notes/N2761.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., and Benjamin Zycher, Military Dimensions of Communist Systems: Findings and Implications, RAND Corporation, R-3629-USDP, 1989 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3629.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Benjamin Zycher, Heide Phillips Shockley, and Jeannette Van Winkle, Gorbachev's Allocative Choices: Constraints, Dilemmas, and Policy Directions, RAND Corporation, R-3891-USDP, 1990 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R3891.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Linking Economic Policy and Foreign Policy, Transaction Publishers, 1991
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Economic Pivot in a Political Context, Transaction Publishers, 1991
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Promoting Democracy and Free Markets in Eastern Europe, RAND Corporation, R-4115-AID, 1991 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R4115.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Kwan-chi Oh, James H. Hayes, Norman D. Levin, Yong-Sup Han, Korean and U.S. Forces and Responsibilities in the Changing Asian Security Environment: Executive Summary, RAND Corporation, R-4095-NA/USDP, 1991 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R4095.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Don Henry, Charles Robert Roll, Jr., K.C. Yeh, Market-Oriented Policies for the Development of Hainan: Executive Summary, RAND Corporation, R-4060-NRCSTD, 1992 https://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/R4060.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Markets or Governments: Choosing Between Imperfect Alternatives, MIT Press, 1993
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., King Mallory, Aiding Russia and Ukraine, RAND Corporation, IP-135, 1993 https://www.rand.org/pubs/issue_papers/IP135.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Developing Improved Deflators for Defense Research and Development, RAND Corporation, MR-165-ACQ, 1993 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR165.html
* Neu, C. Richard and Charles Wolf, Jr., The Economic Dimensions of National Security, RAND Corporation, R-466-OSD, 1994 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR466.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., K.C. Yeh, Anil Bamezai, Don Henry, Michael Kennedy, Long-Term Economic and Military Trends 1994-2015: The United States and Asia, RAND Corporation, MR-627-OSD, 1995 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR627.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Asian Economic Trends and Their Security Implications, RAND Corporation, MR-1143-OSD/A, 2000 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1143.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr. and Benjamin Zycher, European Military Prospects, Economic Constraints, and the Rapid Reaction Force, RAND Corporation, MR-1416-OSD/SRF, 2001 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1416.html
* Chen, Shuxun and Charles Wolf, Jr., China, the United States, and the Global Economy, RAND Corporation, R-1300-RC, 2001 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1300.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Straddling Economics and Politics: Cross-Cutting Issues in Asia, the United States, and the Global Economy, RAND Corporation, MR-1571-RC, 2002 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1571.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., K.C. Yeh, Benjamin Zycher, Nicholas Eberstadt, Sungho Lee, Fault Lines in China’s Economic Terrain, RAND Corporation, MR-1686-NA/SRF, 2003 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1686.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr. and Brian Rosen, Public Diplomacy: How to Think About and Improve It, RAND Corporation, OP-134, 2004 https://www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/OP134.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Kamiljon t. Akramov, North Korean Paradoxes: Circumstances, Costs, and Consequences of Korean Unification, RAND Corporation, MG-333-OSD, 2005 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG333.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr. and Thomas Lang, Russia’s Economy: Signs of Progress and Retreat on the Transitional Road, RAND Corporation, MG-515-OSD, 2006 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG515.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Looking Backward and Forward: Policy Issues in the Twenty-first Century, Stanford Calif: Hoover Institute Press, 2008
* Wolf, Charles, Jr. and Norman D. Levin, Modernizing the North Korean System: Objectives, Method, and Application, RAND Corporation, MG-710-SRF/MCF/RC, 2008 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG710.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Brian G. Chow, Gregory S. Jones, Enhancement by Enlargement: The Proliferation Security Initiative, RAND Corporation, MG-806-OSD, 2008 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG806.html
* Green, Jerrold D., Frederic Wehrey, Charles Wolf, Jr., Understanding Iran, RAND Corporation, MG-771-SRF, 2009 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG771.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Siddhartha Dalal, Julie DaVanzo, Eric V. Larson, Alisher Akhmedjonov, Harun Dogo, Meilinida Huang, Silvia Montoya, China and India, 2025: A Comparative Assessment, RAND Corporation, MG-1009-OSD, 2011 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1009.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Brian G. Chow, Gregory S. Jones, Scott Warren Harold, China's Expanding Role in Global Mergers and Acquisitions Markets, RAND Corporation, MG-1162-CAPP, 2011 https://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/MG1162.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Xiao Wang, Eric Warner, China's Foreign Aid and Government-Sponsored Investment Activities: Scale, Content, Destinations, and Implications, RAND Corporation, RR-118, 2013 https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR118.html
* Wolf, Charles, Jr., Puzzles, Paradoxes, Controversies, and the Global Economy, Hoover Institution Press, 2015