Blogs
Is Fed Liftoff a Big Deal?
By Peter Fuleky The Federal Reserve is poised to raise interest rates, but whether the Fed begins liftoff tomorrow or early in the New Year, the climb thereafter is likely to be gradual. Futures contracts predict a gentle ramping up of interest rates, with the federal funds rate hitting about 1.4 percent by the end […]
Read MoreGauging Home Affordability: The Challenge
By Peter Fuleky At a time of dwindling inventory and rising prices, housing affordability has once again become a hot topic in Hawaii. One way to quantify whether the typical single family home or condominium is “affordable” is to compare median sales prices to the value of a mortgage the median household income could support. […]
Read MoreResearch Driven Energy Policy
By Carl Bonham, Makena Coffman, and Michael Roberts Hawaii is in the midst of transforming its electricity system into one with a lot more renewable energy. It’s an exciting time, but also a challenging one that is forcing the State to make tough decisions amid many uncertainties. There appears to be confusion about who bears […]
Read MoreDoes PV Add Home Value?
By Sherilyn Wee Hawaii leads the nation with the highest per capita installation of solar photovoltaic (PV). High electricity rates—three times the national average, —a generous state tax credit, plummeting PV costs, and net energy metering (NEM) policy have all contributed to the proliferation of PV. Considering future cost savings, PV is an attractive investment, yielding […]
Read MoreEconomic Analysis of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: My Visiting Research Fellowship at the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature in Kyoto, Japan
By Kimberly Burnett Earlier this year I had the opportunity to work with an interdisciplinary team at the Research Institute of Humanity and Nature (RIHN) on a Visiting Research Fellowship examining “Human-Environmental Security in Asia-Pacific Ring of Fire: Water-Energy-Food Nexus.” Our objective was to design research frameworks for conducting water-energy-food economic analyses for three study […]
Read MoreNet Metering Agreements in Hawaii
By Makena Coffman and Michael Roberts In Hawaii, like most U.S. states, households installing rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) systems receive special pricing under net-metering agreements. These agreements allow households with rooftop solar to buy and sell electricity at the retail rate, effectively using the larger grid to store surplus generation from their panels during sunny […]
Read MoreUsing Vog from Kilauea to Estimate the Health Consequences of Particulate and SO2 Pollution
By Tim Halliday, John Lynham and Aureo de Paula Kīlauea volcano is the largest stationary source of sulfur dioxide (SO₂) pollution in the United States of America. The SO₂ that the volcano emits eventually forms particulate matter, another major pollutant. In a recent project, we use this exogenous source of pollution variation to estimate the impact of […]
Read MoreVisualizing Population Age Structure and the Economy
By Ron Lee and Andy Mason Changes in population age structure have important implications for the economies of all countries irrespective of their level of development. One reason age structure is so important is that children consume but produce little or nothing through their own labor. To survive and prosper they must depend on transfers […]
Read MoreAre We in a Low-Growth World?
By Peter Fuleky The economic rebound from the bottom of the Great Recession was less vigorous than post-recession rallies of the past. Notwithstanding some recent pickup of momentum in the US, output growth in developed countries has continued to remain relatively subdued. But should we expect to see any faster growth going forward? Two prominent […]
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