Gunnar Knapp
Professor Emeritus of Economics
University of Alaska Anchorage
Institute of Social and Economic Research
Gunnar.Knapp@gmail.com

This is my professional website.  I am developing it as a way of sharing my professional work, both from my 35-year career at the University of Alaska Anchorage Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER) as well as additional work I have done since I retired on July 1, 2016.  As I am busy with many other things, to date I have posted only a few materials.  As I find time, I am adding more materials.  Many of my other publications can be found in the ISER publication archives.

Selected recent presentations and papers

Reflections on Long-Term Future Change in the Seafood Industry.  July 20, 2022. This is a text version of a keynote presentation for the 2022 meeting of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET) in Vigo, Spain.  IIFET is an international association of fisheries economists.  My goal for the presentation was to encourage reflection on potential long-term future change in the seafood industry, and to suggest five of the factors likely to drive long-term change:  economics, politics, the environment, innovation, and marketing.  Here are the original slides for the presentation.  Here are the original slides for the presentation with text notes for the slides.  Original slides for the presentation.  Original slides for the presentation with text notes.

Reflections on Alaska’s Fundamental Fiscal Choices.  May 5, 2021. I gave this presentation “virtually” (by Zoom) for the Harvard-Yale-Princeton Clubs of Alaska.  A video recording of the presentation is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UDVZyAXLbE.

Alaska’s Post COVID-19 Longer-Term Economic Future. November 20, 2020.  I gave this presentation for the fourth and final class of a course offered in November 2020 by the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education) on “Alaska’s Post-Covid-19 Economic Future.”

Alaska’s Fiscal Challenge and Critical Questions it Raises for the Permanent Fund. November 9, 2020.  I was invited to make this presentation to help set the stage for a five-day Institute of the North webinar on the future of the Alaska Permanent Fund.

Introduction and Major Themes for a Course on Alaska’s Economy. This is the first of five presentations for a short course on The Economy of Alaska which I taught in October and November of 2019 for the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education).  This presentation provides a brief outline of plans for the course, and then introduces major themes of the course.

An Overview of the Economy of Alaska. This is the second of five presentations for a short course on The Economy of Alaska which I taught in October and November of 2019 for the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education).  This presentation provides an overview of trends in Alaska population, employment, Gross State Product, and income.

Theory for Explaining Alaska’s Economy.  This is the third of five presentations for a short course on The Economy of Alaska which I taught in October and November of 2019 for the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education).  It discusses economic base models and other ways of thinking about what drives Alaska’s economy over time.

Alaska’s Fiscal Challenge and Choices.  This is the fourth of five presentations for a short course on The Economy of Alaska which I taught in October and November of 2019 for the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education).  It summarizes how Alaska’s finances have changed and the choices which they will force us to make between government spending, dividend spending, broad-based taxes and resource taxes.

Alaska’s Economic Future and Choices. This is the fifth of five presentations for a short course on The Economy of Alaska which I taught in October and November of 2019 for the Anchorage organization OLÉ! (Opportunities for Lifelong Education).  This presentation provides an overview of the factors which will drive Alaska’s economy in the future and which ones we can and can’t control.  It also summarizes positive, negative and uncertain factors which will affect Alaska’s future.

Long Term Trends in the Pacific Salmon Industry.  October 1, 2019. I gave this presentation for an audience of fishery biologists at the Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Reno, Nevada for a symposium on “The Science of Pacific Salmon Conservation: Foundations, Myths, and Emerging Insights.”  I had only twenty minutes to cover a very big topic, so it only touches very briefly on some of the most dramatic changes that have occurred in Alaska’s salmon industry over its storied 130-year history.

General Principles, Best Practices and Choices for Fishing Industry Sustainability and Economic Growth.  February 12, 2019.  I gave this presentation at the “Fisheries Session” of a conference on “Ocean Economy and Future Technology” in Muscat, Oman.  My objective was to make a few basic points (I had only fifteen minutes), presented in a simple and straightforward way, that would be relevant to the fisheries opportunities and challenges faced by countries such as Oman with large but over-fished coastal artisanal fisheries, significant under-exploited fish stocks farther offshore, and limited capacity for or past engagement in stock assessment and controlling catches.

Trends in Atlantic Salmon Markets and Implications for Bristol Bay Salmon Markets.  January 18 2019.  This 29-slide presentation provides an overview of trends in world Atlantic salmon supply, US farmed salmon supply, Atlantic salmon prices, and the relationship between Atlantic salmon prices and wholesale prices for Bristol Bay sockeye salmon.

Estimates of six major components of US fresh and frozen salmon supply, 2010-2017.  January 2019. This Excel workbook presents estimates of the scale of six major components of US salmon supply, including US imports of farmed Atlantic fresh fillets, frozen fillets, and fresh head-on salmon and US “non-exported” Alaska production of fresh and frozen sockeye, chum and coho salmon.

“Globalization, Salmon Farming, and the Future of the Alaska Salmon Industry” Revisited.  I gave this short talk, reflecting on a presentation I had given in 2002, for the Alaska World Affairs Council on November 2, 2018.

The Future of the Seafood Industry. I gave this presentation at the 2018 meeting of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (IIFET), on July 20, 2018 in Seattle, Washington.

Alaska Fiscal Facts and Choices. I gave this presentation on February 13, 2018 for the Mat-Su College Northrim Lecture Series at Matanuska-Susitna College in Palmer, Alaska.