The Impacts of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend on High School Status Completion Rates

Abstract: Direct cash transfer programs have shown success as poverty interventions in both the developing and developed world, yet little research exists examining the society-wide outcomes of an unconditional cash transfer program disbursed without means-testing. This paper attempts to determine the impact of direct cash transfers on educational outcomes in a developed society by investigating the impacts of the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend, which was launched in 1982 and continues to be disbursed on an annual basis to every Alaskan. A synthetic control model is deployed to examine the path of educational attainment among Alaskans between 1977 and 1991 in order to determine if high school status completion rates after the launch of the dividend diverge from the synthetic in a manner suggestive of a treatment effect.