A Second Opinion

The slowdown in state spending in Alaska compared to other states is highlighted in a recent Cato Institute study of state spending during the decade of the 1990s which found that

• Alaska ranked 50 in real state spending growth between 1990 and 1997—a decline of .6 percent (The U.S. total was 27.2 percent growth)
  
  
• Alaska ranked 50 in growth in real per capita state spending between 1990 and 1997—a decline of 9.8 percent (The U.S. total was 18.6 percent growth)
  
  
• Alaska ranked 49 in growth in state spending per $1,000 of personal income between 1990 and 1997—a decline of 9.3 percent , putting it second after Wyoming (The U.S. total was 9.3 percent growth)
  
  
• Alaska ranked 37 in state and local government employment growth between 1990 and 1996—1.09 percent per year (The U.S. total was a 1.48 percent growth rate)

Source: "The State Spending Spree of the 1990s," Policy Analysis, number. 343, May 13, 1999 (A publication of the Cato Institute).