New publication reveals possible reasons behind vaccine hesitancy among Native Hawaiians
Congratulations to Ruben Juarez and team for their new publication in Vaccines. To understand vaccine hesitancy, the team surveyed 1124 adults residing in a region with one of the lowest vaccination rates in Hawaii during their COVID-19 testing program. The analyses offer novel insight on the role of trust in COVID-19 mitigation efforts in populations […]
Read MoreHomeowner Politics and Housing Supply
Restrictions on housing supply have contributed to a rapid increase in home prices and rents in many large cities. Incumbent homeowners may benefit financially from rising prices, while renters are harmed. Incumbent residents may also resist new local housing due to local congestion externalities. Supply restrictions are often implemented by city councils at the behest […]
Read MoreNew publication in Journal of General Internal Medicine
A new publication led by UHERO’s Tim Halliday and Ruben Juarez describes how the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic created a perfect storm in which private laboratories can earn huge profits from PCR testing while potentially impacting health care premium costs. Halliday, T., Tan, C., Juarez, R. et al. Financial Implications of COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests on […]
Read MoreOpposing Role of Trust as a Modifier of COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake in an Indigenous Population
Abstract: Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders (NHPIs) were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and remain significantly under-vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2. To understand vaccine hesitancy, we surveyed 1124 adults residing in a region with one of the lowest vaccination rates in Hawaii during our COVID-19 testing program. Probit regression analysis revealed that race/ethnicity was not directly associated […]
Read MoreFinancial Implications of COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction Tests on Independent Laboratories
During the COVID-19 pandemic, independent laboratories provided critically needed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests (Current Procedure Terminology Code: 87635) to identify positive COVID-19 patients. The Families First and Coronavirus Relief Act and CARES Act require commercial insurance plans to cover COVID-19 testing costs without any cost-sharing for patients, but do not set the price.1,2 Prior […]
Read MoreEconomic and GHG impacts of a US state-level carbon tax: the case of Hawai’i
A new paper by a team from UHERO published in Climate Policy finds that a carbon tax for Hawai‘i set at the federal social cost of carbon would reduce cumulative GHG emissions by 10% relative to the baseline from 2025 to 2045. They find that when carbon tax revenues are paid as equal-share dividends to Hawai‘i […]
Read MoreDoes air pollution increase electric vehicle adoption? Evidence from U.S. metropolitan areas, 2011–2018
A publication in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy by a team of economists including UHERO’s Coffman, Hayashida, and La Croix shows that changes in local air pollution within U.S. metropolitan areas are associated with changes in consumer purchases of new EVs. The authors find a positive association between PM2.5 pollution and BEV adoption, and a negative […]
Read MorePrivate Actions to Combat Climate Change Through Offsetting: The Story of The Coconut Traveler
By Kimberly Burnett, James Mak and Christopher Wada In late 2021, the United Nations (UN) held its 26th climate change conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland. Among the many agreements that emerged from the conference was a coordinated plan for tourism climate action (Glasgow Declaration) to cut tourism’s global carbon emissions in half over the next […]
Read MoreUHERO’s Daniela Bond-Smith is CSS Spring 2022 Research Award Recipient
Congratulations to UHERO’s Daniela Bond-Smith for receiving CSS research support funding for her joint project “Building a participatory infrastructure for community-driven, real-time monitoring of the Disabled community’s needs and priorities in Hawai’i”!
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