When oil started flowing off Alaska’s North Slope, State leaders knew they had a problem. Because the natural course of an oil field’s life is to decline, it wasn’t hard to imagine that revenues would follow suit. If Alaska spent the money as it entered the treasury, it would cause a boom a bust in[…]
As the New Year begins, we will have to wait another month for the official data on how the last one ended. But, we can take some time to look at the information we already have to gain some insight into how the year wrapped up. The Labor Market Continues to Suffer It’s hard to[…]
At this point, you’ve probably heard more about the COVID-19 than you can stand. I feel you. And I don’t want to pile on to the discussion about the disease itself. But, the measures to protect public health will have economic consequences. While doing a full analysis of that economic damage is more work than[…]
On Monday, ISER gave a presentation that suggested the vetoes would cost the economy 4,217 jobs and would send the State whirling back into a recession. I disagree. While it’s ok for us to have different ideas, only one of us will be right. Unfortunately, most people don’t care to find out why our ideas[…]
It is the population of an economy that provides the supply of labor and the demand for goods. If the population is declining, you can make a safe bet that the economy isn’t doing well. Many Alaskan’s have probably heard by now that Alaska’s population declined in 2017. If you haven’t, it’s true. Here are[…]
You’ve probably heard by now that Alaska currently has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation. While this is true, it doesn’t quite mean what people think it does. Here a few reasons why. 1. Alaska has a higher “natural rate” of unemployment than other States There are many reasons a person might[…]