ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the political interests and institutions to the foreground and examines some interactions between Alaska's political environment and its inhabiting economic organisms. It reviews the principal determinants of Alaska resource development, and assesses the relative roles of market and political or policy factors in that development. The chapter also explores some of the possible alternatives to petroleum development as the mainstay of Alaska's economy. It focuses on state wealth management, identifies the main interests involved and their contending analyses and prescriptions. The chapter also examines the political environment and institutions in which the key decisions about management of Alaska's remaining oil revenues will be made, and speculate about likely outcomes. Potential growth in Alaska exports to Pacific Rim nations—particularly Japan, Taiwan, and Korea—is a possibility that Alaska businesses and government have paid increasing attention. The causes of Alaska's impending fiscal crisis are both short- and long-term.
