The Governor's solution : how Alaska's oil dividend could work in Iraq and other oil-rich countries : an oil-to-cash reader
Reliance on natural resource revenues, particularly oil, is often associated with bad governance, corruption, and poverty. Worried about the effect of oil on Alaska, Governor Jay Hammond had a simple yet revolutionary idea: let citizens have a direct stake. The Governor's Solution features his first-hand account that describes, with brutal honesty and piercing humour, the birth of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which has been paid to each resident every year since 1982. Thirty years later, Hammond's vision is still influencing oil policies throughout the world. This reader, part of the Center for Global Development's Oil-to-Cash initiative, includes recent scholarly work examining Alaska's experience and how other oil-rich societies, particularly Iraq, might apply some of the lessons. It is as a powerful reminder that the combination of new ideas and determined individuals can make a tremendous difference --even in issues as seemingly complex and intractable as fighting the oil curse.
Alaska: Arctic Groundhog Day
Author(s): Wright, Glenn; Elizarde, Tasha | Abstract: Since the early 1980s, Alaska has relied on oil taxes for almost all of its state government revenue. Like many resource-based economies, including many of the Western states, the result is a boom and bust economy. With production declining and the price of Alaska’s North Slope crude around $75 per barrel, the state is in a bust cycle, with a large state government deficit. Although Alaska is experiencing a somewhat improved revenue outlook compared to 2017, the state’s executive and legislative branches continue to wrestle with unpopular political choices; do we implement a state income tax, tap the state’s Permanent Fund sovereign wealth fund (and thereby reduce or eliminate Alaska’s annual Permanent Fund Dividend payment to Alaskan residents), or some combination of those two approaches? In Spring 2018, the Alaska State Legislature—supported by Independent Governor Bill Walker—chose the first of these options, tapping Alaska’s Permanent Fund to fund state government operations for the first time. The result is a dramatically improved fiscal position for 2019, and although the state remains in deficit, chances of a balanced budget are much improved. Use of the Permanent Fund has not been popular, however; a number of incumbents who supported the use Permanent Fund earnings were defeated in November 2018 by opponents who campaigned on the issue. At the moment, Alaska’s fiscal future remains in doubt.
Iraq. Climate of fear: sexual violence and abduction of women and girls in Baghdad.
This report is based on research conducted by Human Rights Watch in Baghdad Iraq from May 27 2003 to June 20 2003. A female researcher conducted over seventy interviews with victims of sexual violence and abduction Iraqi police officers U.S. military police officers U.S. civil affairs officers health practitioners nongovernmental organizations intergovernmental organizations and members of the CPA. Human Rights Watch found twenty-five credible reports of women who were victims of sexual violence or abducted and took direct testimony from four victims. Because of the extreme consequences that face victims of sexual violence all victims’ names in this report are pseudonyms and other details have been omitted in order to protect the confidentiality of the women and girls who agreed to share their experiences with Human Rights Watch. (excerpt)