Nowcasting the Trajectory of the COVID-19 Recovery
I develop a weekly coincident index of economic activity in the State of Hawaii. The purpose of the index is to nowcast the recovery from the COVID-19 induced downturn. The index is the first principal component extracted from 18 daily and weekly state-level time series, it captures about 80% of the variation in the sample, […]
Read MoreIntergenerational mobility in self-reported health status in the US
Abstract: We present estimates of intergenerational mobility in self-reported health status (SRHS) in the US using data from the PSID. We estimate that the rank-rank slope in SRHS is 0.26. We show that including both parent health and income in models of intergenerational mobility increases the explanatory power of child outcomes. We construct a monetary metric for […]
Read MorePublication: How Will Climate Change Affect Water Demand? Evidence from Hawai‘i Microclimates
The effect that climate change will have on water resource sustainability is gaining international interest, particularly in regions where stocks are strained due to changing climate and increasing populations. Past studies focus mainly on how water availability will be affected by climate change, with little attention paid to how consumer behavior is likely to react. […]
Read MoreCabotage Sabotage? The Curious Case of the Jones Act
This paper examines the economic implications of the Jones Act, which is a 1920 U.S. cabotage law that restricts domestic waterborne shipments to American vessels. The rapid rise of the Asian shipbuilding industry over the last century has contributed to the closure of most American shipyards and to the decline in American built ships. Thus, […]
Read MoreImpact of two of the world’s largest protected areas on longline fishery catch rates
Two of the largest protected areas on earth are U.S. National Monuments in the Pacific Ocean. Numerous claims have been made about the impacts of these protected areas on the fishing industry, but there has been no ex post empirical evaluation of their effects. We use administrative data documenting individual fishing events to evaluate the economic impact of the expansion of […]
Read MoreCommunication, Expectations, and Trust: An Experiment with Three Media
We studied how communication media affect trust game play. Three popular media were considered: traditional face-to-face, Facebook groups, and anonymous online chat. We considered post-communication changes in players’ expectations and preferences, and further analyzed the contents of group communications to understand the channels through which communication appears to improve trust and trustworthiness. For senders, the social, […]
Read MoreOptimal multi-instrument management of interrelated resources and a groundwater dependent ecosystem
We develop and operationalize an integrated groundwater and watershed management model using data from the Kīholo aquifer on the west coast of Hawai’i Island. Results from a numerical simulation suggest that investment in fencing (passive management) is preferred to invasive species removal (active management) if we are limited to selecting a single conservation tool. However, […]
Read MoreGroundwater sustainability: A review of the interactions between science and policy
Concerns over groundwater depletion and ecosystem degradation have led to the incorporation of the concept of groundwater sustainability as a groundwater policy instrument in several water codes and management directives worldwide. Because sustainable groundwater management is embedded within integrated, co-evolving hydrological, ecological, and socioeconomic systems, implementing such policies remains a challenge for water managers and […]
Read MoreRisk preferences after a typhoon: An artefactual field experiment with fishers in the Philippines
When are risk preferences stable and when do they change? In general, individual preferences tend to be consistent across time and space but extreme shocks, such as natural disasters, appear to change how people make economic decisions. We conduct an artefactual field experiment with fishers on a remote island in the Philippines and investigate the effect of […]
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