Current Position:

Assistant Professor

Description:

Matt joined the Economics Department at the University of Montana in 2012. He earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Oregon. Prior to entering the UO's PhD program, he served as an intelligence officer in the United States Air Force for eight and a half years. While serving in the USAF, Matt was stationed at Travis AFB in Northern California, the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA (where he earned a MA in National Security Affairs), and Hickam AFB in Hawaii. A few of the garden spots to which he had the opportunity to deploy include Uzbekistan, Qatar, U.A.E., and Diego Garcia. He grew up in Southern California and earned a BA in Political Science from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Matt's wife is also a recovering political science major and they have two daughters, ages four and one, that keep them very busy.

Office Hours:

Tuesday 14:30-16:00

Wednesday 9:30-11:00

Field Of Study:

Experimental Economics, Environmental Economics, and Behavioral Economics

Research Interests:

My current research focuses on risk preferences. Understanding risk preferences is particularly important to environmental economists because many of the policies intended to address climate change have both uncertain costs and uncertain benefits. Thus, modeling risk preferences appropriately is critical to accurately measuring the expected welfare effects of environmental policy. Overall, my research agenda is tied together by my interests in the evaluation of environmental policy, behavioral economics, and the use of experiments to help understand economic behavior.

Courses:

Principles of Microeconomics

Education:

University of Oregon, Ph.D. -- Economics, 2012

University of Oregon, M.S. -- Economics, 2009

Naval Postgraduate School, M.A. -- National Security Affairs, 2004

UC Santa Barbara, B.A. -- Political Science-International Relations, 1997

Teaching Experience:

I have also taught Intermediate Microeconomics, Environmental Economics, and Labor Economics.

Professional Experience:

Intelligence Officer, U.S. Air Force, 1998-2007

International Experience:

Some of the places I "visited" while in the military include Uzbekistan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Diego Garcia, South Korea, Thailand, and Singapore.

Selected Publications:

Working Papers and Appendices:

• "Bias and Brains: Risk Aversion and Cognitive Ability Across Real and Hypothetical Settings," Forthcoming, Journal of Risk and Uncertainty
• "Heuristic or Expected Utility? Tracking Decision Making While Measuring Risk Attitudes," Under Review
• "Do Individuals Acquire Information Differently When Making Hypothetical Choices?"
• "Appendix for Bias and Brains"