Derek Wietelman

Derek Wietelman

Ph.D. candidate in agricultural and resource economics

University of Maryland AREC

Biography

Welcome! I am a fifth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of Maryland. I am an applied microeconomist specializing in environmental and resource economics, with a particular interest in the economics of water and energy resources. In my current research, I use applied econometric methods to understand how demand for water and energy are shaped by both price and non-price policy interventions. I also work on topics related to the economics of water quality.

Interests

  • Environmental economics
  • Applied econometrics
  • Water resources

Education

  • PhD in agricultural and resource economics, current

    University of Maryland

  • Master of Public Affairs, 2018

    Indiana University

  • BS statistics; BA political science, 2016

    Oklahoma State University

Research in Progress

Can Smart Devices Lead to Efficient Prices?

Complementary Conservation: Estimating Energy Benefits of Water Conservation

with Casey J. Wichman

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Economic Incentives to Enhance Riparian Buffer Adoption and Environmental Benefits for Water Quality and Carbon Sequestration

with Youngho Kim, Erik Lichtenberg, David Newburn, and Haoluan Wang

Modeling Household Lawn Fertilizer Behaviors and Nitrogen Application in Long Island Sound

with David Dickson, Robert Johnston, Qian Lei-Parent, Tom Ndebele, David Newburn, Jamie Vaudrey, and Haoluan Wang

Publications

Public Opinion Toward Hydraulic Fracturing: The Effect of Beyond Compliance and Voluntary Third-Party Certification

A survey with an embedded experiment was conducted to test how residents would respond to a commitment by oil and natural gas producers to conduct nearby fracking operations in a manner that is more protective of health and the environment than existing state and federal regulations. The experiment specifically assessed how the use of independent third-party certification of operations coupled with “beyond compliance” practices would influence local public support for oil and gas development. The state of Colorado was chosen due to its long history of oil and gas development, its leadership amongst states in advancing fracking, and the current local-level conflicts surrounding oil and gas development. A public opinion survey (N = 390) of a representative sample of Colorado residents found that “green certification” of a production company’s activities led to substantially increased levels of support for a hypothetical nearby oil and natural gas project. Our findings suggest that oil and gas developers can obtain greater public support for their projects by voluntarily engaging in practices that are more protective than current state and federal regulations together with third-party certification of those practices. In effect, these coupled actions serve as a mechanism that promotes a firm’s “social license to operate”.

Other Writings

Stephanie Lansing, …many other coauthors, & Derek C. Wietelman (2023). Maryland Animal Waste Technology Assessment and Strategy Planning. Report prepared for the Maryland Department of Agriculture.

Derek Wietelman, Karen Palmer, & Casey Wichman. (2022). Using Prices, Automation, and Data to Shape Electricity Demand and Integrate Renewables into the Grid. RFF Report, No. 22-03.

Dallas Burtraw, Maya Domeshek, & Derek C. Wietelman (2020). Managing Investment Revenues and Costs in the Transportation Climate Initiative Region. RFF Issue Brief Series, No. 20-05.

Casey J. Wichman, Derek C. Wietelman, Daniel A. Brent, and Diego S. Cardoso (2019). Public Comments on ‘Options for Implementation of a Statewide Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program.’ Testimony submitted to California State Water Resources Control Board.

Casey J. Wichman and Derek C. Wietelman (2019). A Short History of Water Resources Research at Resources for the Future. Resources Magazine, Issue 201.

Stacey A. Giroux, Kevin W. Tharp, and Derek C. Wietelman (2019). Impacts of Implementing an Auto-Advance Feature in Mobile and Web Surveys. Survey Practice, Vol. 12, Issue 1.

Teaching

HNUH 258A: Harvesting Big Data to Understand Agriculture and Climate Change

TA to Dr. Lars Olson (UMD, Fall 2021)

AREC 481: Environmental Economics

TA to Dr. Roberton Williams (UMD, Spring 2021)

AREC 365: World Hunger, Population, and Food Supplies

TA to Dr. Kenneth Leonard (UMD, Fall 2020)

Contact