News and Announcements

A recent issue of the Economic Development Journal is devoted to articles about Alaska’s economy and includes three by ISER faculty members Gunnar Knapp, Bob Loeffler, and Mouhcine Guettabi. The journal is published by the International Economic Development Council (IEDC), and this issue was released ahead of IEDC’s annual conference, held in Anchorage in October. The articles by ISER faculty are now available on the ISER website, with permission of the publisher.

Resource Revenues and Fiscal Sustainability: Lessons of the Alaska Disconnect (PDF, 522.9KB), by Gunnar Knapp, ISER director and professor of economics

Mining and Sustainable Communities: A Case Study of the Red Dog Mine (PDF, 482KB), by Bob Loeffler, ISER visiting professor of public policy

The Determinants of Small Business Success in Alaska: A Focus on the Creative Class (PDF, 240.6KB), by Mouhcine Guettabi, ISER assistant professor of economics

Read more to find summaries of the articles.

Olga Faizulina is a Fulbright visiting researcher and PhD student in economics from Yakutia, in Russia (see map). She is studying at ISER this year, analyzing how air transportation policy influences economic development and sustainability of small rural communities in Alaska. She first briefly describes the people, culture, and economy of Yakutia, and then discusses in more detail her previous research on the air transportation system in northern Russia.

Heather Hudson will discuss her new book, Connecting Alaskans: Telecommunications in Alaska from Telegraph to Broadband, on Monday, October 26, from 5 to 7 in Room 307 of the UAA/APU Consortium Library. Dr. Hudson is an affiliate professor of communications policy at ISER and was ISER's director from 2010 to 2012. This is a UAA Campus Bookstore event, and it is free and open to the public.

Connecting Alaskans, published by the University of Alaska Press in September 2015, describes the history of extending communication services—telephone, radio, television, and the Internet—throughout rural Alaska. The book analyzes successful policies and strategies to serve Alaska’s remote regions, and describes how Alaskans’ innovation, advocacy, and persistence helped connect more than 200 isolated villages. It also discusses the role of telecommunications in Alaska’s rural development.

Free parking for this event is in the Library Lot, Library NE Lot , and the East Garage (see map). For more information, get in touch with Rachel Epstein at 907-786-4782 or repstein2@uaa.alaska.edu.

About 1 in 7 adult Alaskans is a military veteran, and veterans are eligible for federal and state services ranging from health care to special license plates. A new report, Alaska Veterans Needs Assessment, describes how much veterans know about the available services and what improvements they'd like to see in service delivery. The report authors are ISER researchers Mouhcine Guettabi, an assistant professor of economics, and Rosyland Frazier, a research associate.

They did the research for the Alaska Office of Veterans Affairs, and their findings are based on survey responses of nearly 600 veterans; focus groups of women veterans and disabled veterans; and interviews with people in organizations that help veterans apply for services. They found that veterans want less delay and more help in enrolling for benefits, as well as more frequent and easily accessible information about the available benefits—and any changes in benefits. But they want that information tailored to younger and older veterans and to men and women veterans, who have different needs. Veterans suggested that agencies hold seminars to explain specific benefits, send monthly or quarterly electronic newsletters, and make it simpler to find specific benefit information on federal and state web sites.

Download the report, Alaska Veterans Needs Assessment (PDF, 661.3 KB). If you have questions, get in touch with Rosyland Frazier at 907-786-5432 or rrfrazier@alaska.edu.

Want to practice balancing the state budget in a variety of ways? Want to see how a particular strategy might play out? At lunchtime on Tuesday, September 29, we will set up the Balancing-Alaska's-Budget game in the ISER conference room so anyone can try balancing what the state spends and how to pay for it. Alaska Common Ground and ISER unveiled the game at a recent forum on Alaska's fiscal and economic future. It explains our current state budget crisis in a hands-on and understandable way, with a spinning wheel, scales, and blocks. There won't be any formal talk, but Cliff Groh, chair of Alaska Common Ground, and Bob Loeffler, visiting professor of public policy at ISER, will be there to help the players. Please join us.

When: Tuesday, September 29, 12 to 1
Where: 1901 Bragaw Street, third floor, ISER conference room

1901 Bragaw Street is about two blocks from the intersection of Northern Lights Boulevard and Bragaw Street. Parking will be limited, because an area of the parking lot is blocked off for construction. Do not park in the adjacent parking lot for East High School; the school district can have your car towed. Call 907-786-7710 if you have questions.

To help Alaskans better understand the big budget problems the state government faces, Alaska Common Ground and ISER hosted a public forum on September 19. The forum introduced a new budget-balancing game, and it included a group of Alaskans presenting their own budget proposals, other Alaskans discussing potential economic effects of reduced state spending, and a panel of policymakers talking about factors that will influence future budget decisions.

Forum handouts
Alaska’s Fiscal Situation in Four Graphs (PDF, 484KB)

Brad Keithley's “Sustainable Budget Proposal” (PDF, 140KB)
Gary Wilken's “Everyone Helps a Little: A Five-Year Fiscal Plan” (PDF, 132KB)
John Havelock's “The Hat Trick” (PDF, 114KB)
Liz Medicine Crow's “Progress Will Come by Investing in Our Own” (PDF, 129KB)

Watch forum videos courtesy of 360 North and Alaska Public Media.

Anticipating the Paris Climate Agreement: Politics and Expectations at the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate

Late in 2015, the U.N. Climate Change Conference will take place in Paris, bringing countries together to consider a new climate agreement. In a talk at ISER, Alexios Antypas of Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, discussed negotiations to date on the new climate agreement, identified political controversies, and explored likely and possible outcomes. Dr. Antypas is an associate professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy. He specializes in the field of environmental policy and governance and has published widely on environmental policy issues.

To help Alaskans better understand the big budget problems the state government faces, the new Balancing-Alaska's-Budget Game will be introduced at a free public forum September 19 at UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium. The forum, Alaska's Fiscal and Economic Future, is presented by Alaska Common Ground and ISER and will examine fiscal and economic issues in a number of ways. A group of Alaskans will discuss and defend their own budget proposals, and audience members will have the chance to vote on those proposals. There will also be a debate between two Alaskans with different visions of Alaska's likely economic future, and a panel of policymakers will discuss factors influencing future decisions and how the public can have more of a  say in those decisions.

The game will provide a new way for Alaskans to think about budget issues. Using a spinning wheel, giant scales, and blocks, game players will try to balance what we spend with how we pay for it. Please join us at this interesting and innovative forum.

What: A free public forum, Alaska's Fiscal and Economic Future

Where: UAA's Wendy Williamson Auditorium

When: Saturday September 19, 9 to 4.

Download a program (PDF, 535KB). For more information, go to akcommonground.org.

A new book by Heather Hudson, an ISER fellow and former director, documents the history of telecommunications in Alaska over a century, from the beginnings of telegraph communications through the spread of broadband today. Dr. Hudson describes the considerable challenges of bringing reliable telecommunications to a huge state with hundreds of small isolated communities, difficult terrain, and harsh weather. The 380-page book is available in both printed and electronic versions from the publisher, the University of Alaska Press.

For ordering information, please visit Connecting Alaskans.

Professor Hudson can be reached at hehudson@uaa.alaska.edu.