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9th grade · Social Studies · Unit 9 of 9

Oil, Fish & the Permanent Fund

Booms, busts and how resources shape government

What your child practices

Alaska's markets and industries (oil, seafood, tourism, health care and federal spending), the causes and effects of its boom-and-bust economy, the Permanent Fund and the dividend, and how resource revenue shapes the state's government and budget choices.

Alaska content standards learning standard: SS.AKH.6.8.1; SS.AKH.6.11.2; SS.AKH.6.11.1; SS.9-12.9.7 · the Permanent Fund and dividend, Alaska's boom-and-bust economy and its industries, and the role of natural resources in the development of Alaska's government

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Alaska’s economy depends on oil, seafood, tourism, health care and federal spending such as military bases.
  2. It booms and busts with oil prices; a sharp price fall caused the late-1980s recession.
  3. Oil money built the Permanent Fund. Dividends began in 1982, there has been no state income tax since 1980, and fund earnings now help pay for services.

Example: What caused Alaska’s big recession in the late 1980s? Much of the state budget came from oil. Oil prices fell sharply. Answer: a sharp fall in oil prices

Oil, Fish & the Permanent Fund in Alaska

In the Alaska content standards, this is unit 9 of 9 in 9th grade Social Studies, after Land, Statehood & ANCSA.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alaska Department of Education and Early Development

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Alaska voters created the Permanent Fund in…

    • 1976
    • 1867
    • 1912

  2. Question 2

    Why did Alaska's constitution and statehood depend on resources?

    • the US paid all costs forever
    • Alaska had no people
    • the state needed resource revenue to pay for itself

  3. Question 3

    Why does Alaska's government feel oil price changes so strongly?

    • oil prices never change
    • oil pays for a large share of the state budget
    • Alaska buys all its oil

  4. Question 4

    What kind of market sells Alaska seafood to Asia and Europe?

    • a farmers' market only
    • a black market
    • an export market

  5. Question 5

    Why is Alaska's commercial fishing called a renewable resource industry?

    • it uses no boats
    • well-managed fish stocks replace themselves each year
    • fish never die

  6. Question 6

    Many Alaska Native regional corporations earn much of their revenue from…

    • farming bananas
    • government contracting and services, often outside Alaska
    • car factories in Alaska

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