William D. Danko

William D. Danko is a marketing scholar who studies consumer behavior and how households build wealth. He taught marketing at the University at Albany, State University of New York, for 31 years, nine of them as department chair, and became professor emeritus in 2007. His papers appear in the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Business Research and the Journal of Advertising Research.

In 1973 he helped Thomas J. Stanley with Stanley's first study of affluent Americans, and the two worked together on research for decades after. Their surveys became The Millionaire Next Door (1996). The book argues that most American millionaires do not look rich. They tend to own ordinary businesses, live in modest houses, drive used cars and save a large share of their income. The authors contrast prodigious accumulators of wealth with under accumulators who earn well but spend it all.

Critics point out that the data is decades old and counts only people who succeeded. Danko later co-wrote Richer Than a Millionaire, which looks at prosperity beyond money.