How Can the State Government Restore Fiscal Balance?
The impact of COVID-19 and the efforts taken to contain it have led to a rapid deterioration in the state’s short- and medium-term fiscal outlooks.
June 18, 2020
Briefs
Prevention of Travel-related Reintroduction of COVID-19 Infection in the State of Hawaii
This plan proposes to limit travel-related reintroduction of COVID-19 into Hawaii, averting further local transmission of the virus from travelers to the community. The plan
June 9, 2020
Hawaii Tourism Authority and Sustainable Destination Management In Hawaii
The first rule in tourism development is that the wellbeing of destination residents must come first. Unfortunately, the majority of Hawaii residents now think that tourism
April 7, 2020
How to Control Hawaii’s Coronavirus Epidemic and Bring Back the Economy: The Next Steps
We spell out in detail how increased testing, comprehensive historical contact tracing, and isolation of exposed and infected individuals can lead to a rapid reduction
April 3, 2020
Herd Immunity or Containment through Test and Trace?
Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), a viral disease caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, has arrived and is spreading in Hawai’i. In an attempt to “flatten the
March 31, 2020
Using Extensive Testing and Geographical Isolation to Mitigate the Coronavirus Crisis in Hawaii
Hawaii needs to quickly adopt and implement a plan to control and then halt the spread of the coronavirus or the cost in terms of
March 25, 2020
Charting a New Fiscal Course for Hawaii: A Fiscal Architecture Approach
The Hawai’i Executive Conference (HEC)’s recent report, Troubled Waters: Charting a New Fiscal Course For Hawaii, makes a compelling case for the Hawaii community to
January 29, 2020
Four Alternative Models for Regulating an Investor Owned Utility of the Future
How do you coerce a monopoly to act as if it were operating in a ruthlessly competitive industry? This is the billion-dollar question of Public
April 3, 2019
Is Leasehold Housing Built on Government Land a Solution to Unaffordable Housing in Honolulu?
Housing is expensive on Oahu. For most middle-class Honolulu households, even buying a median-priced condominium ($415,000 in February 2019) is financially out of reach. Some
March 29, 2019
Charting a New Course For Hawai‘i Tourism
Despite a string of record visitor arrivals now totaling almost ten million annually, Hawai‘i tourism shows signs of trouble. Inflation-adjusted spending per visitor has trended
February 14, 2019
Rethinking Hawaii Tourism: Time to Shift from Marketing to Managing Tourism?
We know from Hawaii Tourism Authority (HTA) resident surveys that Hawaii residents perceive tourism is our economic lifeline, but it is also a cause of
May 16, 2018
Making Sense of Mandatory Resort Fees
More than 1,000 hotels in the U.S. require guests to pay a mandatory resort fee, stated as a fixed dollar amount per room per night
April 10, 2018
Time to End the Preferential Taxation of Timeshare Occupancy?
Timeshares comprise a significant percentage of visitor accommodations in Hawaii. There are currently over 11,000 timeshare units in the state, and unlike traditional hotel accommodations,
March 27, 2018
Sustainable Tourism Development and Overtourism
Everyone agrees that tourism should be developed in a sustainable way. Yet, nearly 25 years after the term “sustainable tourism” became fashionable, sustainable tourism development
November 15, 2017
Is Hawaii’s Hotel Room Tax Law Obsolete?
With tax collections falling behind expectations, State lawmakers are pressuring the tax department to increase effort to collect uncollected taxes from internet sales.* In 2015
March 9, 2017