Mouhcine Guettabi

Not surprisingly, Alaskans remain keenly interested in both the short-term and long-term prospects for the Alaska economy.  ISER continues to give requested presentations on the Alaska economy and the state budget to civic groups.  On October 18, Mouhcine Guettabi and Ralph Townsend participated in a panel entitled “Alaska’s Economy: Facts, Fiction and Figures” at the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN) Convention in Fairbanks.

Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) Associate Professor of Economics, Dr. Mouhcine Guettabi, recently released his report, A simple decomposition of Alaska’s labor force participation rate, which details his research surrounding the steady decline in the percentage of people working or seeking employment over the past two decades in Alaska and the implications of that downslide.

Director of the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) and Professor of Economics, Dr. Ralph Townsend, will participate in an upcoming debate with ISER’s former director and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Dr. Gunnar Knapp. Moderated by another former director of ISER and Professor Emeritus of Economics, Dr. Scott Goldsmith, the discussion will focus on whether the Permanent Fund Dividend should be constitutionally structured as an endowment and what that would mean to Alaska’s finances and dividend program going forward.

The Institute of Social and Economic Research’s (ISER) Dr. Mouhcine Guettabi, Associate Professor of Economics, was recently published in Scientific American where he discussed his recent research and results on the impact of universal basic income (UBI) on childhood obesity. The article drew from a longer report which Dr. Guettabi co-authored with Drs. Brett Watson and Matthew Reimer. 

Congratulations to Mouhcine Guettabi, Associate Professor of Economics at ISER, on receiving the Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Community Engagement and Service and ISER Associate Director Alexandra Hill, Senior Research Professional Tobias Schwoerer, and Information System Specialist Christopher Start on being recognized for the longevity of their service to the university.

ISER's Mouhcine Guettabi gave a presentation on the economic impacts of Governor Dunleavy's veto of $409M from the state budget at the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce's "Make it Monday," telling the audience that employment losses from cuts will exceed any gains that have been realized during Alaska's fragile economic recovery of the last few months. 

ISER's Mouhcine Guettabi provides context on the Governor Dunleavy's vetoes and their potential impact on the Alaska economy in a series of tweets, showing that just the University of Alaska direct cuts, without accounting for all other line item vetoes (Medicaid, K-12, seniors, debt reimbursement, etc) essentially pushes the Alaska economy back into a recession.

A new study of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD) program shows that an additional $1,000 PFD decreases the probability of an Alaskan child being obese by as much as 4.5 percentage points, translating to about a 22% reduction in obesity.