Economy
Is 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 […]
Read MoreHow to Renovate Housing Policy in a Way that Works
How to Renovate Housing Policy in a Way that Works On May 12, the University of Hawaii Better Tomorrow Speaker Series series hosted a discussion with Stanford economist Rebecca Diamond to address the crisis in housing supply and affordability. Below are some highlights from the conversation, which were condensed and edited for clarity. If you missed the […]
Read MoreThe Agricultural Economic Landscape in Hawai‘i and the Potential for Future Economic Viability
By Sarah Rehkamp, Michael J. Roberts, and James M. MacDonald In a recent UHERO policy brief, Reviving Agriculture to Diversify Hawai‘i’s Economy, authors pointed to trends in Hawai‘i agriculture and state policies surrounding agricultural land management (La Croix & Mak, 2021). Hawai‘i’s agricultural history has centered around the pineapple and sugar plantations and these are […]
Read MoreTaxing 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 […]
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