Hannah Downey

Hannah Downey

Policy Director

Hannah Downey is the policy director at PERC, helping to bring PERC ideas to the policy world. Her writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The Salt Lake Tribune, and local papers. After being introduced to PERC her freshman year of college, she pursued the ideas of free market environmentalism and became a research assistant as a senior. She graduated from Montana State University with degrees in economics and political science in 2015.

Though she grew up in the Midwest, Hannah was lucky enough to spend her summers in Montana. Throughout college she worked as a backpacking guide in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness. Hannah now calls Bozeman home and fills her spare moments with skiing, mountain biking, and enjoying the wonderful outdoors.

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Articles by Hannah Downey

Adoption is a Way Forward for Wild Horses

Hannah Downey

Continuing incentive payments will benefit wild horses, public rangelands, and taxpayers—a first step toward reining in the problem.

It’s Time for a Creative Approach to Conservation

Holly Fretwell, Hannah Downey

Market approaches based in property rights and trade can align incentives in ways that create environmental benefits.

Turning the Problem Into the Solution

Hannah Downey

This National Wildlife Week, we celebrate the innovative leaders that are getting the incentives right to conserve the wildlife that makes our world so diverse and exciting.

Market Solutions to Environmental Problems

Hannah Downey

A podcast on the merits of free market environmentalism.

It’s (Finally) Time to Restore Our Parks

Hannah Downey

Fully solving the backlog issue will require tackling the current backlog as well as ensuring that today’s routine maintenance needs do not become tomorrow’s deferred maintenance.

Let’s Talk Endangered Species

Hannah Downey

It’s important that we maintain a backstop on extinction, but we also have to consider the incentives for recovery.

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