ISER turned 60 in 2021 and the Permanent Fund turns 45 this month. To acknowledge both milestones and ISER’s work related to the Permanent Fund Dividend, the Institute will present a webinar event, “Permanent Fund Dividend: Past, Present and Future,” on Wednesday, December 1 from 5:30-7 pm.
Please join us for a look at the origins of the PFD program, how it has evolved over time, how it affects Alaskans today and how it may evolve in the future – and how ISER has studied these questions over the past 40 years. Panelists include former ISER directors Scott Goldsmith, Gunnar Knapp and Fran Ulmer, and current ISER researchers Matt Berman, Brett Watson and Mary Kopriva. UA President Pat Pitney will moderate.
Register today.
Fran Ulmer
Fran Ulmer was Chair of the US Arctic Research Commission from 2011-2020. She served as Chancellor at UAA 2007-2011, and from 2004-2007 as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy and Director of ISER. In 2018, she was a visiting professor at Stanford and has been a senior fellow at Harvard’s Belfer Center since 2019. She served as an elected official for 18 years: as mayor of Juneau, a state representative and as Lt. Governor of Alaska. She worked as legal counsel to the Alaska Legislature, legislative assistant to Gov. Jay Hammond and Director of Policy Development for Alaska. In that role she was part of the team that drafted the original version of the PFD, as well as the revised concept that became the current version. She attended most of the Alaska Public Forum meetings held around the state before the 1976 vote on the Permanent Fund, explaining Governor Hammond’s vision to save a portion of the state’s oil revenues for future generations of Alaskans.
Scott Goldsmith, Professor Emeritus of Economics, ISER
Dr. Goldsmith was a faculty member at ISER from 1975-2013 and Director from 2001-2005. His research interests include regional economics, Alaska fiscal policy, and energy demand. He constructed several Alaska economic models that are regularly used for policy analyses and projections. He began studying the PFD in 1984 and has since authored many reports on aspects of the Dividend, and presented results of his research in publications and at international conferences. For several years he directed the research program Investing for Alaska’s Future, funded by a generous grant from Northrim Bank, which studied implications of the dominance of petroleum for Alaska’s economic future. He served on the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Minerals Management Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior, and was chairman of the Anchorage Municipal Budget Advisory Commission. In 2006 he received the prestigious Edith R. Bullock Prize for Excellence, presented annually by the UA Foundation.
Gunnar Knapp, Professor Emeritus of Economics, ISER
Gunnar Knapp received his Ph.D. in Economics from Yale University in 1981, and came to Alaska to begin a career as a research economist at ISER, where he worked for 35 years. His research focused primarily on Alaska resource management and markets, particularly on the Alaska salmon industry and world salmon markets. For many years he taught UAA courses on the Economy of Alaska and the Economics of Fish. From 2014-2016, he served as ISER’s Director and was actively engaged in research and public engagement related to Alaska fiscal issues. In 1984, he co-authored the first formal analysis of effects of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Program with Scott Goldsmith, Jack Kruse, and Gregg Erickson.
Matt Berman, Professor of Economics, ISER/College of Business and Public Policy
Matt Berman has been researching social science and public policy issues at ISER since 1981. He came to Alaska in 1978 after earning a Ph.D in economics from Yale University. His BA in economics is from Harvard College. Matt’s primary areas of interest include economic organization and social-ecological systems. Research interests also include energy and natural resources, and public health and safety. He teaches energy economics and the Alaska economy courses at UAA. He participates in a wide variety of professional and community service activities, and serves on the board of the Anchorage Association for Energy Economics.
Brett Watson, Research Assistant Professor of Economics, ISER
Brett’s work focuses on how natural resource wealth is created, managed, and distributed both nationally and in the state of Alaska. He is particularly interested in applying modern econometric approaches to questions surrounding resource policy, community engagement with resource extraction, and extractive firm behavior. At ISER, Brett has studied commercial fisheries, and the effects of the Permanent Fund Dividend on childhood obesity rates and crime.
Brett has a PhD and MS in Mineral and Energy Economics from Colorado School of Mines and BBA in Economics from Texas State University. Prior to joining ISER, he worked as a research associate at the Department of Energy’s Critical Materials Institute studying the supply chains for rare and specialized materials for use in clean energy applications.
Mary Kopriva, Assistant Professor of Healthcare Economics, ISER
Mary Kopriva works in the fields of health and labor economics with a particular focus on questions related to women’s and children’s health and tribal policy. Her research interests include how historical tribal policies impact economic and health outcomes for Native Americans, how health care access affects health-related decision making, and the influence of public policy on intimate partner violence. She earned her Ph.D. and M.S. in Economics from the University of Oregon and her B.S. in Economics and Mathematics from Creighton University. Prior to working at ISER, she spent a year teaching English in Bulgaria as a Fulbright Fellow.
