Blogs
Hawaii’s Minimum Wage, Poverty, and Job Creation
By Carl Bonham Ten different bills have been introduced at the legislature this session to raise Hawaii’s minimum wage. According to proponents, raising Hawaii’s minimum wage is necessary to help the working poor whose buying power has diminished. In the past, UHERO briefs and blog posts have argued that the minimum wage is not an efficient […]
Read MoreIn Search of the Glass Ceiling: Deciphering Data on Gender and Wages
By Inna Cintina and Natalie Schack The gender pay gap gets a lot of attention, but what can we learn about it by looking at the wage data? The Hawaii Equal Pay Dashboard compares female salaries to male salaries over time. It breaks up the workforce into a few dozen occupation groups, and uses American […]
Read MoreAre Recessions Bad for Your Health?
By Tim Halliday Our work indicates that a bad economy can kill you. Specifically, we show that over the ten years from 1984 to 1993 that a one-percentage point rise in the unemployment rate increased the risk of dying within the subsequent year by 6% for working-aged men. This translates to roughly 24 more deaths […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.11: Hawaii Health Insurance Premiums, Oligopolies, and the Affordable Care Act
By Inna Cintina Earlier this year the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (FDHHS) issued a summary report on the health plan choices and premiumsacross the country that will be available in the Health Insurance Marketplace. This report focuses on assessment of the plans with the lowest premiums in each state, as those are […]
Read MoreLignocellulosic Ethanol – Are We There Yet?
By Junko Mochizuki and Makena Coffman Lignocellulosic ethanol has been touted as a cleaner, next generation alternative fuel. Turning abundant resources like grasses into a transportation fuel sounds like a good idea. But, is this a viable option in Hawaii? What’s the state of technology now? What would it cost to produce it locally? Will […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.10: The Confusing World of PV
By Sherilyn Wee and Makena Coffman This UHERO 101 intends to clarify some of the rate and policy aspects of PV in Hawai‘i, and explores the two opposite driving forces of PV adoption. PV is an attractive investment in Hawai‘i where electricity rates are almost four times the national average. Rising electricity prices and falling system costs […]
Read MoreCatch Shares and Implications for Hawai’i’s Fishing Industry
By John Lynham and Chaning Jang* In light of declining global fish stocks, an immediate and important concern becomes the management of our fishery resources, both to protect the delicate ecosystems that they are a part of, and to ensure their viability as an economic and food resource for generations. A controversial new method to […]
Read MoreThe Role of Impatience in Sustainable Growth
By Lee Endress, James Roumasset, and Christopher Wada Sustaining economic growth requires appropriate husbandry of our natural capital resources (e.g. fish, trees, freshwater, and coral). But how much conservation is optimal? According to proponents of “strong sustainability,” natural capital should never be depleted. This is inconsistent with maximizing economic welfare however. In less developed economies, […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.9: Who’s hiring? Who knows!
By Carl Bonham and James Jones Beginning in July 2013, the Hawaii Department of Labor and Industrial Relations (DLIR) discontinued the regular monthly publication of industry payroll job counts for Kauai County, Maui County, and Hawaii County citing budgetary constraints. These statistics provided the most comprehensive and timely assessment of labor market conditions and served […]
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