| Abstract: | ![]()
For the past six years the State of Alaska has engaged in a unique program in which annual direct cash distributions have been made to the populace. These distributions represent in a sense dividend payments made to citizens on their individual shares of Alaska's mineral wealth. This paper provides a historic perspective of the Alaska dividend distribution program and examines actual distributions to determine whether they are consistent with utility maximization. We found that either a dramatic change in preferences took place over the past six years or that distributions were inconsistent with intertmporal utility maximization. |
