-
Review of the 1990 Census in Alaska - Report and Research Summary
Robert Pelz and Jack Kruse
Although not required by law to do so, the State of Alaska uses the federal decennial census count of the state's population as a basis for redistricting the state legislature. This study was commissioned by the Reapportionment Board to answer the question of whether the decennial census count is the best source of data for redistricting. The methods used to examine the quality of the decennial census count also offered an opportunity to assess the quality of demographic, social, and economic data collected from samples of households. These same methods provided a useful basis for recommendations on how to improve the next decennial census.
-
Planning The First American-Soviet Park
John Tichotsky
The proposed Beringian Heritage International Park is tentatively to include the Bering Land Bridge National Preserve in Alaska and the Chukotka and Provideniya districts of the Chukotka Autonomous Republic. The National Park Service and the National Audubon Society asked ISER to examine resource development, political organization, and other factors that will influence the Societ Union's designation of land for the international park. This research summary provides an overview of the recent report on ISER's recent report on Chukotka - "Use and Allocation of Natural Resources in the Chukotka Autonomous District" by John Tichotsky.
-
Use and Allocation of Natural Resources in the Chukotka Autonomous District
John Tichotsky
Chukotka Autonomous District (Okrug) comprises the northeastern-most area of that part of the Soviet Union known as the "Far East". Chukotka can be used to refer to three different areas: the Chukotka Autonomous District (Okrug) is the entire North East half of the Magadan Province (oblast); the Chukotka Peninsula (sometimes written Chukotskyi) describes a geographic unit that is the northeastern peninsula of the Chukotka Autonomous District; and the Chukotka Region is an administrative unit equivalent to a county occupying the northern part of the Chukotka Peninsula. There has been a significant amount of American and Western travel on business, educational, cultural, medical and scientific exchanges in the past two years. Communications have been improved by the increased travel between the regions and the direct microwave link that provides for telephone calls between Alaska and the Soviet Far East at half the rate for calls between the rest of the United States and the Soviet Union.The United States and the Soviet Union have signed an agreement providing for visa-free travel by Soviet and Alaska Eskimos. Currently, the agreement has not been fully implemented and permission for Soviet natives for visa-free travel has been extended only to St.Lawrence Island, Kotzebue and Nome. This report provides geographic, demographic, historical, political, and resource development information that was current in 1991. A short summary report (ISER Research Summary No. 48) was developed based on this report.
-
Alaska Statewide and Regional Economic and Demographic Systems: Effects of OCS Exploration and Development , 1990
Matthew D. Berman, Oliver Scott Goldsmith, and Teresa Hull
This report contains projections and analyses of cumulative economic and demographic effects of petroleum exploration and development that may occur in Alaska from areas leased as of January 1990 on the federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). Econometric modeling techniques are used to develop projections for the state of Alaska and for the Anchorage-Mat-Su Region. The projected cumulative effects of the Leasing Program include an increase of approximately 4 percent in population and employment for both the state and for the Anchorage-Mat-Su Region. The statewide effects begin with exploration activities in the first half of the 1990s, then grow quickly during construction of development and transportation facilities for OCS development near the end of the decade. The effects then decline slowly as petroleum development moves into the operations phase after the year 2000. Economic activity related to expanded OCS development yields significant new petroleum revenues for state and local governments. Including state income taxes potentially available from the expanded employment base, the revenues added by OC development are more than sufficient to offset new demands on public services created by the larger population. The effects on the Anchorage-Mat-Su Region are projected to be nearly as large in 2015 as in 2000 and reach the same percentage increases in population and employment as observed for the state as a whole. The effect of OCS leasing on the Anchorage-Mat-Su Region population and employment is likely to occur slightly later than for the state as a whole due to the lags in the multiplier process producing these largely indirect effects.
-
Alaska Housing Markets In 1990: Report and Research Summary
Matthew Berman, Alexandra Hill, and Linda Leask
At the beginning of the new decade, Alaska urban housing markets appear to have largely ended their four-year slide. Population and home sales are up. Residential vacancies and mortgage defaults are down. This report is one of a series prepared for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (AHFC) on the economy and housing markets of urban areas of Alaska. It reviews the housing markets in Alaska's major urban centers and discusses the outlook for 1990 and 1991. The geographic areas covered include Anchorage, Fairbanks, and the Mat-Su Valley.
-
Alaska Economic Database Users' Guide
Kathryn C. Eberhart, Eric Larson, Dona Lehr, and Tracey Bradford
-
Evaluation of Future Purposes and Functions of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority
Musa Essayad and David Gordon
In their endeavor to sketch a strategic plan for the 1990s, the board of directors of the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA) asked the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) of the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA) to render independent, professional advice on how to establish a framework for evaluating AIDEA's direction and options for the future. The analysis and findings of the study are based on the policy and functional issues unique to AIDEA, and on the experiences of similar development financing institutions in other countries. A summary of findings and recommendations follows this introduction, and four subsequent chapters detail our findings.
-
ISER Fiscal Papers: Alaska Potential Tax Revenues
Oliver Scott Goldsmith, Matthew D. Berman, Lee Gorsuch, and Linda Leask
During the 1980s Alaska's state and local governments spent two to three times more per capita than governments in other states but taxed individuals and businesses only about half as much. They were able to do this because high petroleum revenues paid most government expenses. Petroleum revenues began declining in the 1980s, and by the year 2000, will leave an estimated $1 billion gap in half. This paper analyzes potential revenues for Alaska governments. It examines how much tax Alaska's state and local governments currently collect and estimates how much different tax collections would be if tax rates were at national averages. Taxes paid by individuals and businesses and by resource industries are separately examined. Income tax, property taxes, federal transfers to the state, state transfers to local governments, interest, general sales tax, resource taxes, and resource ownership revenues are discussed with a consideration of the effects of world oil prices and potential economic development. Five arguments against raising taxes are examined. This report contains 11 graphs. (SV)
-
Impact: A Model For Estimating Jobs And Income From Energy Programs - User's Guide
Oliver Scott Goldsmith and Steve Colt
-
Alaska State Government Spending Since 1979: Tracing The Growth
Scott Goldsmith
During the decade of the 1980s the state of Alaska collected $46.3 billion (1989 $) in revenues, $31.8 billion from the production and ownership of petroleum resources, $8.2 billion as earnings on financial assets (the majority from the Permanent Fund), $3.2 billion from the federal government, and $3.1 billion from all other sources. Since 1979 state government has been on a spending spree of unparalleled proportions. This paper is an attempt to analyze the composition of that spending and in particular to identify the spending which is over and above a "maintenance level". It is a historical analysis but the objective is to use this information to look · into the future, to try to understand how state government will evolve in the next 2 decades. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Western Economic Association in San Diego, California July 2, 1990
-
Comparing Fiscal Policy Proposals
Scott Goldsmith
This paper is a summary of a larger report which compares 8 fiscal policy proposals to assess what effects each would have over the next 20 years on state spending, the Permanent Fund Dividend, and state savings. The alternatives we assess range from continuing current policies to freezing the budget, to changing the allocation of Permanent Fund earnings.
-
How Oil Prices Affect the Fiscal Gap
Scott Goldsmith
In this short summary based on ISER's Fiscal Policy Papers series, we estimate the timing and size of the state fiscal gap at the currently proposed $2.5 billion level of spending and at various oil prices. Findings are presented in figures and summarized.
-
Oil Price Surprises and the Budget
Scott Goldsmith
Policy makers drawing up state budgets each year tend to use the price of oil prevailing during the legislative session as the basis for predicting oil prices and likely state petroleum revenues. Currently these make up about 85 percent of state income. This fiscal policy note examines some recent trends and the implications for short-term volatility, and longer term declines for state spending.
-
Alaska's Dependence on State Spending
Scott Goldsmith and Lee Gorsuch
It would be hard to exaggerate Alaska’s economic dependence on state government spending. State spending supports nearly one of every three jobs. Three of every ten dollars of personal income grow out of state spending. If state officials balance the budget entirely through spending cuts, economic growth could slow dramatically over the next decade, costing Alaska 35,000 new jobs. We can’t avoid the economic slowdown that the fiscal gap will produce, but we can help ease its effects by a combination of more efficient use of our assets, spending cuts, cost containment, and new taxes or other new revenues. This paper analyzes how different state fiscal policies could reduce economic disruption from the fiscal gap in the coming years.
-
Big Ticket Spending: Transfers and Labor Costs
Lee Gorsuch, Scott Goldsmith, and Jay Hogan
This paper profiles state transfer (grant and claim) programs and labor costs (including both payroll and benefits), which together account for three of every four dollars the state spends on general operating expenses. This analysis is a complement to previous Fiscal Policy Papers in which we have examined different aspects of state government spending and revenue generation. This paper examines how the two biggest categories of spending affect the state operating budget. We conclude by looking at the implications of our analysis for declining revenues.
-
Better Times in Alaska
Alexandra Hill, Linda Leask, and Matthew Berman
The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) has tracked the economic health of Anchorage households since 1987, when the recession that followed the oil price crash was at its worst. In our most recent survey we also questioned residents of Fairbanks and the Mat-Su Borough. This publication compares conditions in the three survey places in early 1990, and describes trends in Anchorage over the past three years. We asked Alaskans about their jobs, incomes, home equity, plans to move, and expectations for the coming year. We end with a snapshot glance of survey households in 1990. That brief discussion simply provides useful basic information on households in the three survey places at the start of the decade.
Printing is not supported at the primary Gallery Thumbnail page. Please first navigate to a specific Image before printing.
