Research Interests
Economic policy, particularly (1) regional and rural economics and development; (2) international labor migration; (3) domestic job and occupational mobility; and (4) natural resource management issues related to amenities, planning, and energy, and their implications for economic development. I am also interested in economic philosophy and the history of economic thought.
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Education
Ph.D. (econ.), University of Southern California, 1981
M.A. (econ.), University of Southern California, 1979
​lic.oec.publ. (econ.), University of Zurich, Switzerland, 1975

Current Positions

  • Professor, Division of Resource Economics and Management, West Virginia University, since 1993
  • Faculty Research Associate, Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University, since 1993
  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Economics, West Virginia University, since 1998
  • Visiting Professor, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, PR China, since 2016​

​Contact Information

Division of Resource Economics and Management
P.O. Box 6108
West Virginia University
Morgantown, WV 26506-6108
304-293-5572
peter.schaeffer_at_mail.wvu.edu

Employment History 

​West Virginia University
  • Director, Division of Resource Management, 1993-2006
  • Director, Division of Family and Consumer Sciences, 2004-2006
University of Colorado at Denver
  • ​Director, Urban and Regional Planning Program, 1988-1993
  • Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, 1987-1993
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign:
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, 1982-1988 (on leave of absence 1987-88)
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich (ETH-Z)
  • Visiting Professor, Division of Landscape and Environmental Planning,  1999-2000 (on sabbatical leave from WVU)
International Labour Office, UN Geneva, Switzerland
  • Visiting Research Associate, June 1990
Carl Fingerhuth & Partner 
(Urban and Regional Planning Consultants, current name: PLANAR AG), Zurich Switzerland
  • Economist, 1974-1976