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Welcome to the home page of William D. Walker.1
I am a public policy advisor specializing in environmental economics and policy. I work for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources,2 where I advise staff on economic analysis of administrative rules, lead environmental economics research, and serve on the science council of the Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts.
I am interested in how economics is used in public policy: How do policy-makers think about economics? Does economics really answer policy-makers’ pressing questions? Why are advocates enamored of “jobs” studies? Do such studies persuade people? Why are economists’ mechanical models still so popular? Are complex adaptive models more useful in policy? Can economics help with large-scale, long-run problems like climate change?
Since the year 2000, I have worked in Wisconsin state government as a policy and budget analyst (advising three governors), senior policy advisor (working on land use, energy, and climate change), and agency budget director.
I have degrees in economics (Ph.D. and M.S. — Michigan State University), law (J.D. — University of Wisconsin), and mathematics (B.S. — University of Wisconsin).
I write at Feldsmarch.com and share photographs at Plenachrome.com.
I love the meanings of words but cannot win at Scrabble or Boggle.
- Known alternately as:
- “William D. Walker” — formally and in writing.
- “Bill Walker” — by friends and family.
- “Walker” — by some colleagues.
- “WDW” — on luggage.
- “William” — by uncorrectable people. ↩
- I am not an official spokesperson for the department and nothing I write or say should be construed as department policy. Department policy is set by the Natural Resources Board. Department public affairs contacts are available for official guidance. ↩
