Blogs
Energy Economics: Lessons for and from the Philippines
By Jim Roumasset This is to share some recent energy research from the Philippines. Some of the findings have relevance for other small economies such as Hawaii. Green GDP and environmental taxationMany governments, including those in the Philippines and the U.S. declare that their mission is to promote the general welfare. It is well known […]
Read MoreBlog: COVID-19 Mandates: Recommendations for Hawaiʻi Businesses
By Ruben Juarez, Alika Maunakea, May Okihiro, and Carl Bonham Faced with the largest increase in cases since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaii needs effective solutions that would reduce the number of cases disproportionately ravaging communities in the state. In August 2021, the University of Hawaii Economic Research Organization and the Pacific Alliance […]
Read MoreBlog: Improving Pedestrian Safety in Hawaiʻi
By Justin Tyndall Over 2,500 people have been killed in motor vehicle crashes in Hawaiʻi since 2000, averaging a person every three days. Car crashes are a leading cause of accidental death, particularly for younger people. In a different setting, this scale of mortality might be treated as a public health emergency, but we have […]
Read MoreAre We Hitting Our Targets? A Look at Hawai‘i’s GHG Emissions
By Makena Coffman, Maja Schjervheim, and Paul Bernstein Over the past three years, the State of Hawai‘i Department of Health has released a Hawai‘i Greenhouse Gas Emissions Report. This year’s report added an inventory for 2017, as well as projections through 2030 based on existing policies and trends. UHERO collaborated with ICF on this project and […]
Read MoreGroundwater management for people and ecosystems under a changing climate: Insights from the Puʻuloa aquifer
By Leah Bremer, Ahmed Elshall, Christopher Wada, Laura Brewington, Jade Delevaux, Aly El-Kadi, Clifford Voss, and Kimberly Burnett Summary:New research from the University of Hawaiʻi ʻIke Wai project indicates that current legal limits on withdrawals from the Puʻuloa (Pearl Harbor) aquifer, the primary water source for Oʻahu, are not sufficient to protect this important resource. […]
Read MoreBlog: Developing a Dream Destination: From Laissez-Faire to Destination Management
By James Mak In 2008, I published an interpretive history of how public policies toward tourism in Hawaii changed over nearly half a century from statehood until circa 2005. During much of this period, tourism in Hawaii was booming until the 1990s, followed by a period of relative stagnation. The early role of the state […]
Read MoreFunding the Hawaii Tourism Authority: TAT vs General Fund…Or?
By James Mak A majority of the states in the U.S. have a government tourism office (also known as Destination Marketing Organization, DMO) that markets their state. The National Council of State Legislatures (NCSL) notes that the most common way for states to fund their tourism offices is by appropriation from their general fund. [1] […]
Read MoreIs a Carbon Tax Viable for a Small Island Economy?
By Maja Schjervheim, Paul Bernstein, Sumner La Croix, Makena Coffman, and Sherilyn Hayashida For the third year in a row, a carbon tax bill fizzled out at the Hawaiʻi State Legislature. Perhaps it was the difficult timing of introducing a new tax in the wake of a pandemic. Perhaps it was due to qualms regarding […]
Read MoreShould the Counties Get a Share of the Transient Accommodation Tax?
By James Mak In the recently-concluded thirty-first legislature (2021), Hawaii state lawmakers passed HB 862 CD1 which would divert to the state government’s general fund (GF) $103 million from the state’s transient accommodation tax collections (TAT) that otherwise would have gone to the counties. In exchange, state lawmakers gave each of the four counties the […]
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