Governor's Solution: How Alaska's Oil Dividend Could Work in Iraq and Other Oil-Rich Countries

by Todd Moss (Editor)

Reliance on natural resource revenues, particularly oil, is often associated with bad governance, corruption, and poverty. Worried about the effect of oil on Alaska, Governor Jay Hammond had a simple yet revolutionary idea: let citizens have a direct stake. "The Governor's Solution" features his firsthand account that describes, with brutal honesty and piercing humor, the birth of the Alaska Permanent Fund dividend, which has been paid to each resident every year since 1982.Thirty years later, Hammond's vision is still influencing oil policies throughout the world. This reader, part of the Center for Global Development's Oil-to-Cash initiative, includes recent scholarly work examining Alaska's experience and how other oil-rich societies, particularly Iraq, might apply some of the lessons. It is as a powerful reminder that the combination of new ideas and determined individuals can make a tremendous differenceeven in issues as seemingly complex and intractable as fighting the oil curse.

146 pages, ebook

First published October 1, 2012

About the author

Todd Moss, formerly the top American diplomat in West Africa, draws on his real-world experiences inside the U.S. Government to bring to life the exhilaration—and frustrations—of modern-day diplomacy. His first novel, THE GOLDEN HOUR (Putnam/Penguin), was originally inspired by the August 2008 coup d’état in Mauritania. Todd was Deputy Assistant Secretary of State at the time and was dispatched by Secretary Condoleezza Rice to negotiate with the junta leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Just weeks after Todd completed the first draft of THE GOLDEN HOUR about an army takeover in Mali, the real President of that country was overthrown in a coup. Within days, the northern half of the country was overrun by Tuareg separatists and Islamist extremists, a threat to Africa and the world that was only ended by a French military invasion in early 2013.

The sequel, MINUTE ZERO (Putnam/Penguin), about an election in Zimbabwe that goes awry, was released Sept 2015.

Todd is also the author of several non-fiction books on African development and economics. He currently works as Senior Fellow and Chief Operating Officer at the Center for Global Development, a think-tank in Washington DC and lives in Maryland with his family. He is also an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and has taught at the London School of Economics (LSE) and at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He holds a PhD from SOAS and a BA from Tufts University.