For 40 Years, Alaska Has Modeled a Universal Income. Now That’s in Peril.

For 40 Years, Alaska Has Modeled a Universal Income. Now That’s in Peril.

A bumper sticker opposing cuts to Alaska’s Permanent Fund Dividend, an annual payout to every Alaskan from the state’s oil-wealth fund that many have compared to a universal basic income. (Photo by Yereth Rosen) The PFD is the product of a particularly Alaskan philosophy—an egalitarian and, some say, socialist streak that regards the state’s natural resources as commonly owned.

On September 29, at the third annual PFD Travel Fair, travel companies set up booths to tempt Alaskans with ways to spend their Permanent Fund Dividend (PFD)—their payout from the state’s famous oil-wealth fund. This year’s PFD amounted to $1,600 per […]

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