Blogs
Blog: The Impact of Marriage Equality on Hawai′i’s Economy and Government: An Update After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Decisions
By Sumner La Croix and Lauren Gabriel The U.S. Supreme Court’s decisions in the two same-sex marriage cases have substantially increased the short-term and medium-term benefits that could accrue to Hawai‘i if the Hawai‘i State Legislature enacts legislation allowing same-sex marriages to begin in Fall 2013 or early in 2014. Our updated report comes to […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.5: Much Ado about Student Loans
By Kimberly Burnett and James Jones How will college students around the country be affected by the latest policy change regarding interest rates on student loans? Rates on subsidized Stafford loans, which account for about 25% of all federal student loans, increased from 3.4% to 6.8% for new loans beginning this week. How big of […]
Read MoreUS Marines Moving From Okinawa – Pacific Beat Interview
By Sumner La Croix The United States announced plans on June 20 to move about a quarter of the ~20,000 US marines based in Okinawa to Guam, Hawaii, the US mainland, the Philippines, and Australia over the next 13 years. Are those plans still moving forward? Yes, they are, but an editorial in last week’s […]
Read MoreAn Insight on the Cost of Paradise
Whether visitors or residents in Hawai‘i, we are all aware of the high cost of living in paradise. One major contributing factor is the cost of energy. Households in Hawai‘i pay 4 times more than the average US household and nearly 7 times the households in Utah, where the residential energy cost is the cheapest […]
Read MoreThe Challenges of EV Efficiency In Hawaii
Earlier this month, U.S. Department of Energy launched a website that calculates “the cost of fueling a vehicle with electricity compared to a similar vehicle that runs on gasoline”. The mission of this gadget is to encourage consumers to switch to electric cars by: • bringing greater transparency to vehicle operating costs • helping drivers determine how […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.4: Record Visitors, Flat Spending
Last year is often described as a banner year for the Hawaii tourism industry. With record visitor arrivals close to 8 million, it is easy to come to the conclusion that tourism is stronger than ever in the state. Is the number of tourists in a destination the primary indicator to measure success of the […]
Read MoreUHERO 101.3: Can the Median Household afford the Median Home on Oahu?
With recent months of record low interest rates and a strengthening economy, individuals and families in Hawaii are increasingly looking into becoming homeowners. How realistic is this possibility? Do families have enough for the down payment, and will the median household income qualify for a loan? How will a monthly mortgage payment compare to the […]
Read MoreMost of Hawaii’s commercial seafood is imported, but recreational catch tips the scales back
Hawaii sits in the middle of the largest ocean on earth. So the majority of the seafood consumed on these islands must then come from local waters, right? The answer might surprise you. The average 2000 to 2009 annual commercial consumption in Hawaii was 38.9 million pounds per year, which is roughly 28.5 pounds per […]
Read MoreExpensive Exotics: Snakes in Hawaii
Last month a juvenile ornate tree snake (Chrysopelea ornate) was captured by military personnel near the airfield at Hickam Air Force Base. Inspectors from the Hawaii Department of Agriculture were notified and took custody of the foot-long snake. Ornate tree snakes are mildly venomous and are related to the brown tree snake (Boiga irregularis), which […]
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