Blogs
Interim Forecast Update: Hawaii’s Economy is Shut Down to Deal with COVID-19
This is UHERO’s second interim forecast update to address dramatic recent developments associated with the novel coronavirus pandemic. Much has changed since the interim forecast update that we released three weeks ago. COVID-19 has spread to more and more countries, with disastrous impacts being seen in several major European economies, including Italy and Spain. Nationally, […]
Read MoreThe Agony of Restaurant Workers
Social distancing is necessary to slow the spread of COVID-19, but has significant economic impacts, hitting dine-in eateries disproportionately hard.
Read MoreWho are we measuring and modeling for? Supporting real-world watershed management
By Leah Bremer and Kate Brauman (In Press at the Global Water Forum) Watershed management programs that promote land management like reforestation, conservation, and lower-intensity grazing to enhance clean and ample water supplies downstream are becoming more common around the world. To achieve their water goals, they often need hydrologic information, usually generated through field measurements and hydrologic models. However, hard work by the hydrologic community […]
Read MoreInterim Forecast Update: COVID-19 Will Impose Significant Economic Impacts in Hawaii
The spread of the novel coronavirus and recent visitor falloff lead us to lower sharply our outlook for the Hawaii economy. In the baseline forecast, real visitor spending is expected to fall more than 10% this year and payroll jobs by 0.6%, with an attenuated recovery path. Alternative scenarios reflect a wide range of possible […]
Read MoreTo Tax or Not to Tax: Making a High-Quality State Revenue/Tax System
By James Mak When Hawaii’s state lawmakers gather each year at the State Capitol to begin their annual legislative session, tinkering with the tax system always seems to consume much of their work. Hawaii citizens can count on seeing a slew of bills introduced to raise taxes on somebody while other bills are introduced to […]
Read MoreJust Published: “Macroeconomic Forecasting in the Era of Big Data”
By Peter Fuleky Big data analysis has a long history in macroeconomics. In 1937, National Bureau of Economic Research researchers Wesley Mitchell and Arthur Burns used 487 monthly and quarterly economic time series to advise policy makers on the state of the US business cycle. Since then advances in information technology and its ubiquitous use […]
Read MoreLittle relief from Hawaii’s high cost of living
By Rachel Inafuku and Peter Fuleky Living in paradise comes at a cost. Hawaii is notorious for its combination of high costs of living and low incomes relative to these costs. These factors impose hardships on Hawaii families of modest-to-moderate income and prompt some to consider relocating to less-expensive mainland locales. So how expensive is it […]
Read MoreForest protection provides important cost savings to water utility on Maui
By Leah Bremer Researchers from the University of Hawaiʻi Economic Research Organization and Water Resources Research Center partnered with the Nature Conservancy of Hawaiʻi to evaluate how native forest conservation contributes to local water supplies in a water stressed area in East Maui. They found that by preventing the degradation of native forest, conservation efforts […]
Read MoreJones Act
By Will Olney The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, is a cabotage law that requires that all goods transported via water between two U.S. points be carried on ships that are American built, owned, crewed, and flagged 1. The Jones Act was passed in response to World War I, […]
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