ABSTRACT

The governments of all three appropriate a substantial share of these rents through taxation, royalties, or participation in the extraction of oil and gas. The power to preserve, or to waste, the national or provincial petroleum wealth therefore lies squarely in the hands of the governments of these jurisdictions. All three jurisdictions have chosen to transform some of their petroleum wealth through investment funds. The Alberta Heritage Savings Trust Fund and the Alaska Permanent Fund were both set up in 1976. The greatest threat to using the Norwegian Petroleum Fund as a vehicle for saving an appropriate share of the petroleum revenues has to do with the lack of understanding among the general public for making the necessary savings. There is a choice of alternative settings for discussing the optimal savings rate for mineral revenues. The real savings of any government can never be anything other than the surplus on its consolidated budget.