Economy
Taxing Income in the New World of Teleworking
By Robert D. Ebel and James Mak Covid-19 has accelerated the growth of teleworking/telecommuting in the U.S. As a result, states are having to confront the challenge of determining how best to tax the incomes of employees who live in one state but work remotely for employers located in another state. In Hawaii a resident […]
Read MoreThe Economic Impact of the University of Hawai‘i System 2021 Update
This report estimates the University of Hawai‘i (UH) System’s economic activity in the state of Hawai‘i in fiscal year 2020, where we define economic impact as the direct, indirect, and induced economic activities generated by UH-related spending in the state economy.
Read MoreUHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaii: Vaccinations and US Strength Drive Upgraded Hawaii Forecast
Economic conditions in Hawaii are improving. The dominant US visitor market has outperformed expectations, and built-up savings and pent-up demand will drive mainland arrivals to near-normal levels in coming months. International markets will be much slower to recover. Local employment gains have been limited so far, but the vaccine rollout in Hawaii and nationally sets […]
Read MoreHow Bad? Labor Underutilization in Hawaii During the Pandemic
By James Mak The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) recently issued revised estimates of civilian labor force and unemployment in Hawaii for all of 2020. The new numbers show that in December 2020 Hawaii had the unenviable distinction of having the highest state unemployment rate in the nation (10.3%). For the entire year, Hawaii’s […]
Read MoreCOVID-19 infections, vaccines, and economic recovery
By Carl Bonham, Peter Fuleky, Byron Gangnes, and Justin Tyndall A year ago Hawaii was operating under its first COVID-19 Stay at Home Order. As business activity contracted, the state quickly shed more than 150,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate jumped from 2% to 22%. Today there is hope that the devastation brought by the […]
Read MoreLocation, Location, Location! A uniquely Hawai‘i economic development strategy
By Steven Bond-Smith Hawaiʻi’s economy is in trouble. Unemployment is typically low in Hawai‘i and it was close to an all-time low in March 2020 at just 2.1 per cent. But Covid-19 has ravaged the visitor industry. Business travel and tourism have dried up due to public health restrictions and the risk of contracting Covid […]
Read MoreLocation, Location, Location! A uniquely Hawaiʻi economic development strategy
By Steven Bond-Smith* Hawai‘i’s vulnerability to economic shocks has become a paramount concern during the pandemic. Extreme specialization in the visitor industry exposes Hawaiʻi to risk and volatility when events such as a pandemic, recession or terrorist attack trigger collapses in visitor numbers. In response, policy-makers in Hawaiʻi are placing an increasing emphasis on diversification. […]
Read MoreNowcasting the Trajectory of the COVID-19 Recovery
I develop a weekly coincident index of economic activity in the State of Hawaii. The purpose of the index is to nowcast the recovery from the COVID-19 induced downturn. The index is the first principal component extracted from 18 daily and weekly state-level time series, it captures about 80% of the variation in the sample, […]
Read MoreThe Hawaii Film Tax Credit: An Update
By Sumner La Croix and James Mak In 1997, Hawaii was one of the first states to grant tax credits to attract content producers to film their projects in the state. As of January 2021, 32 states offer tax credits to defray qualifying expenses of filming movie/TV productions. The competition to attract film/TV productions now […]
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