Ian Fletcher
About Me
Welcome! I am a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Wyoming. My research examines how to improve public support for policies, particularly in settings where individual actions are not clearly attributable to outcomes. I focus on preventive policies and environmental management, including work on reservoir management and social carrying capacity. My approach primarily relies on experimental methods, with applications in environmental economics, behavioral economics, and the economics of education.
I earned dual Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics and Economics from the University of Wyoming in May 2022 and a Master of Science (M.S.) in Economics from the University of Wyoming in December 2024.
Outside of academia, I run Tele-Hope, a community-building nonprofit organization dedicated to suicide prevention in Wyoming. In my free time, I enjoy spending time with my dog, Wicket.
You can contact me at ifletche[at]uwyo[dot]edu
You can download my CV here (Updated April 2026): Download CV (PDF)
Research Experiences and Affiliations
- Summer, 2026 - Summer Participant at the Russell Sage Foundation Summer Institute in Behavioral Economics
- Spring, 2026 - Spring Participant at the Appalachian Experimental & Environmental Economics Workshop
- 2025- Associate Director of the Teton Lab at the University of Wyoming
- Summer, 2024 - Summer Participant at the Chicago School in Experimental Economics
- Summer, 2024 - Visiting Doctoral Student at the University of Chicago with Dr. John List
- Summer, 2023 - Field researcher in Grand Teton National Park for the Teton Group at the University of Wyoming
- 2022-2025 - Member of the Wyoming Anticipating the Climate-Water Transition grant’s research team
Service
- Spring 2025 to Present - Advisory member to the University of Wyoming’s Wellness in the WEST Coalition. Wellness in the WEST is a campus-wide holistic approach to mental health care at the University of Wyoming.
Awards and Scholarships
Awards
- 2026 - University of Wyoming College of Business, 3 Minute Thesis Winner
- 2025-2026 - University of Wyoming College of Business, Department of Economics Graduate Scholar of the Year
- 2024-2025 - University of Wyoming College of Business, Department of Economics Outstanding PhD Teaching Student
Scholarships and Grants
- 2025 - University of Wyoming Department of Economics Charles “Chuck” Mason Graduate Research Award ($4,000)
- Project Title: Student Success and the Intangibility of Investment Returns: Experimental Evidence
Papers in Progress
Experiencing Carbon Pricing
Experience with Washington’s cap-and-invest program transformed initial opposition to carbon pricing into broader support for the policy. Voter data and survey evidence show that firsthand experience, rather than ideology, drove this shift—boosting approval specifically for the policy voters lived under.
See more here.
From Survival to Learning: The Evolution of Early Childhood Investment Over the Development Cycle
The paper develops an economic model explaining how countries shift early childhood development investments from health to education as they grow richer and survival improves. Using global data, it finds that nations first focus on survival-related spending, then sharply increase education investment with rising income and health quality—highlighting the importance of sequencing and tailoring ECD policies to the development stage rather than adopting uniform strategies.
See more here.
Heterogeneous Risks and the Intangibility of Risk Reduction: Theory Experimental Evidence
The paper investigates how making disaster outcomes more tangible—by revealing whether losses were preventable—affects individual investment in risk mitigation. Using a theoretical model and a 2×2 lab experiment, it shows that when people can attribute outcomes to their own actions, they invest more in prevention after both success and failure, highlighting that causal feedback and observability are key to sustaining preventive behavior.
See more here.
Non-autonomous Management of Dam Releases in Response to Climate Change
This paper models the dynamic optimization problem faced by dam managers balancing upstream recreation and downstream flows in a non-autonomous, seasonal environment. Using Jackson Lake as a case study, it compares actual versus optimal management, quantifies the impact of hydrological shocks, and offers a decision-support framework for adapting to future climate and political pressures.
See more here.
Natural Disasters and the Intangibility of Risk Reduction: Theory and Experimental Evidence
The paper investigates how making disaster outcomes more tangible—by revealing whether losses were preventable—affects collective investment in risk mitigation. Using a theoretical model and a 2×2 lab experiment, it shows that when people can attribute outcomes to their own actions, they invest more in prevention after both success and failure, highlighting that causal feedback and observability are key to sustaining preventive behavior.
See more here.
The Curse of Intangibility: Why Prevention Policies Fail
Prevention policies systematically fail because their greatest successes are invisible: avoided disasters, prevented diseases, and non-events that cannot be attributed to the policies that caused them. This paper argues that this “intangibility” problem is distinct from other behavioral biases and requires institutional reforms that reward policymakers for outcomes no one can see.
See more here.