On May 1, 2025, Commonwealth North, ISER, and Build Alaska’s Future co-hosted a virtual economic forum featuring ISER economists discussing Alaska’s economic trajectory in light of federal policy changes by the current administration. Titled “How Shifting […]
The Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) faculty, including Brett Watson, Bob Loeffler, and Mary Kopriva, showcased their expertise as panelists at the […]
All of the US is seeing significant demographic changes that will shape the workforce over the next 20 years, but these changes are especially significant in Alaska. Moreover, Alaska's population is strongly influenced by migration to and from Alaska. The shortage of workers during the Pandemic Recession may be in part a "tipping point" effect, where declines in the workforce that would have happened over several years were accelerated by COVID-19 changes. A February 2022 presentation by Dr. Ralph Townsend examined the implications of several demographic changes for the future of Alaska's workforce. Read more about > Webinar: The economic implications of changing demographics in Alaska
Join ISER on January 26, 2022 for a lunchtime presentation with insights from economist Mouhcine Guettabi. He will give an overview of how the economy has changed since the onset of the pandemic and a look at the opportunities and challenges ahead. Read more about > Guettabi to present 2022 Alaska Economic Forecast
Dr. Mouhcine Guettabi, Associate Professor of Economics at ISER and the College of Business and Public Policy, gave a presentation this week on “The State and the Stimulus,” in which he highlighted observations and analysis of the current state of Alaska’s economy and the impacts of federal aid. Read more about > Alaska structural budget problems still urgent says Guettabi in “The State and the Stimulus”
ISER Professor Mouhcine Guettabi forecasts modest economic growth for the Alaska economy for 2021 and 2022. However, he expects that this modest growth will not be enough for Alaska to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic shock. Professor Guettabi projects that the economy in 2022 will still be 5% below the pre-pandemic level. The forecast appears in a report entitled Alaska’s Economy and the pandemic, which was prepared for the Alaska Department of Commerce, Community and Economic Development (DCCED.) The projection that Alaska’s economy will not fully recover by 2022 is consistent with similar Federal Reserve forecasts for the US economy. Read more about > Pandemic impact forecast to last through at least 2022
Institute of Social and Economic Research Associate Professor of Economics, Dr. Mouhcine Guettabi, is to participate on an upcoming panel to follow up on the forum earlier this year, The Costs of Alaska’s Economic Roller Coaster, which examined and discussed the costs of a start-and-stop economy and […]
Ralph Townsend, ISER director, gave presentations on Alaska’s economy and the state budget (PPTX, 701KB) to the Board of Directors of the Alaska Federation of Natives, CIRI’s Tikahtnu Forum and the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce in early May. Townsend’s main areas of discussion included employment and the state budget, […]
There are positive signs that the recession is coming to an end, with a slight growth in jobs during January and February 2019, but the recovery is fragile and will be sensitive to changes in oil prices and budget cuts, Mouhcine Guettabi, associate professor of Economics and ISER […]
How might steps Alaska’s state government takes to balance its budget affect Alaska families? Different ways of closing the state’s $3 billion budget gap—the result of lower oil prices and dwindling oil revenues—will have different effects on households with and without children, according to a new report by Matthew Berman […]