If you happen across some information about Alaska’s current financial situation, you probably get the impression that we are in dire straights. When oil prices crashed 77% in late 2014, the State’s oil revenues collapsed – leaving a gaping hole in the budget. By all accounts, we’ve been deficit spending ever since. But that is[…]
March was a crazy month. It’s almost unbelievable how quickly the world changed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some quick highlights about how Alaska’s finances and economy were impacted by the pandemic. The Stock Market Collapsed March began with the Dow at 26,703. By the end of the month, it was down[…]
The Department of Revenue puts out a forecast of state revenues each December, which serves as a companion to the budget. The latest numbers are a few months old now, and an update should be released next month. However, the Spring update usually focuses more on adjusting the budget year than the long-term outlook. The[…]
You have undoubtedly heard about the renaissance that is just starting on Alaska’s North Slope. It’s a very exciting time with good news breaking every week. All that excitement may tempt you to think that the North Slope oil cavalry is on the way to help us win our budget battle. I’m sorry to say,[…]
Here’s the big news that broke last month, and how it impacts Alaska’s economy. GMT1 Production Started Ahead of Schedule ConocoPhillips announced that they started flowing oil from the Greater Moose’s Tooth Unit on October 5th. This is a full two months ahead of schedule. While initial flows are only around 8,000 barrels per day[…]
We’ve looked at Alaska’s budget for the past month. In part 1, we learned some terminology. Then, in part 2, we explored what we buy with all that money. In parts 3 and 4, we analyzed where the budget growth occurred during the high oil price years, and how we got the budget back under[…]
Now that we’ve explored how the budget increased when oil prices were high, let’s take a look at what got cut when oil prices crashed. Budget Cuts The time period of interest for this article is from the highest budget year (2013) to the most recent budget (2019). In this first graph, we are only[…]
The story I hear most often is that when oil prices topped $100 a barrel, the Legislature went on a shopping spree. That sounds like a plausible story, but let’s check the data just to be sure. Budget Growth Here is a plot of the budget over time, according to Legislative Finance. These numbers represent[…]
Now that we have established some terminology, let’s take a closer look at the FY19 budget. In this post, I’ll be breaking down the budget that was passed in May 2018, for fiscal year 2019 (which began in July 2018). Disclaimer If you want the source data to do your own research, I found it[…]
If you’re watching the gubernatorial debates, you’ve probably noticed that the budget is one of the hot topics. Some candidates say the budget is still too large, others say they’ve done as much as they can to cut it. I hear numbers get thrown around, so my economist ears perk up. Here we are, about[…]