Many communities are developing ways of evaluating local well-being. Research shows that when local governments ask residents to take part in determining measures of well-being, the public is more likely to get involved in decision-making, and communities have more influence over resource management.
Kent Spiers, a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary and a former research associate at ISER, compared how communities in Alaska and Yukon evaluate local well-being.
Nearly 2,700 Alaska children were in foster care in any given month of 2015—20% more than in 2014. More children of all races, all ages, and all regions of the state were in foster care in 2015. But the fastest growth was among White and other non-Native children; among the youngest children; and among children in Anchorage. These are among the findings of a new paper by Diwakar Vadapalli and Jessica Passini that reports on trends among Alaska children in foster care from 2011 through 2015.
Download the paper, The Growing Number of Alaska Children in Foster Care, 2011-2015 (PDF, 2.0MB). If you have questions, get in touch with Diwakar Vadapalli, assistant professor of public policy, at dkvadapalli@alaska.edu or 907-891-6686.
Updated February 4, 2016
Researchers at ISER and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources are surveying floatplane pilots, to collect information that will help state and federal resource managers protect remote lakes and streams from invasive plants.
Learn more about this survey.
Note: This post is not the survey. If you received a letter from us, please enter the personalized link you are provided with into the URL address field of your Internet browser (usually in the top left corner of the browser window). It should look similar to: http://www.iser.uaa.alaska.edu/A#### (where the # is your personalized ID). Do NOT enter this link into google search or the search field of your browser.
You are in the right place when you see the survey and a personalized greeting containing your first and last name.
How do taxes and other revenues the state government collects from the commercial fishing, mining, and tourism industries compare with what the state spends to manage them? That’s the question the Alaska Division of Economic Development asked ISER researchers Bob Loeffler and Steve Colt to answer. In a new study, the researchers report their findings, but they first emphasize that their study is not a broad analysis of all the benefits and costs of these industries, which would also weigh many other factors—including the substantial income and thousands of jobs the industries generate for Alaskans. The researchers also point out that the state’s management goals for these industries include many things besides collecting taxes, and that their study does not say anything about what taxes on these industries should be.
The authors found that commercial fishing, mining, and tourism all generate combined state and local revenues in the same ballpark—averaging about $120 million to $135 million annually in recent years. All three industries pay more in combined state and local taxes than the state spends to manage them, with revenues from tourism and commercial fishing particularly important to local governments: 60% of the revenue from tourism and 40% from fishing goes to local governments. Counting only state revenues (excluding local revenues), the state spends more to manage fishing than it collects from the industry. State revenues from tourism roughly equal what the state spends for management. Mining brings in about six times more than the state spends to manage it.
Bob Loeffler is a visiting professor of public policy at ISER, funded by a grant to the University of Alaska Foundation from the Council of Alaska Producers. Steve Colt is a professor of economics at ISER. The report findings are those of the authors, not ISER, the University of Alaska Anchorage, or the research sponsors.
Download the summary (PDF, 734 KB) or the full report (PDF, 2.6 MB), Fiscal Effects of Commercial Fishing, Mining, and Tourism. If you have questions, get in touch with Bob Loeffler at bobl@uaa.alaska.edu or 907-250-4621.
Research Matters No. 95. Assessing Repeat Child Maltreatment in Alaska December 15, 2015 Statistics from the federal Children’s Bureau show that the rate of repeat child abuse and neglect in Alaska is among the highest in the country. But a new study by ISER researchers Diwakar Vadapalli and Jessica Passini finds that even those grim numbers may underestimate how many children in Alaska are repeatedly abused or neglected.
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.
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, 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.