Economy
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 MoreDeveloping 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 MoreThe local labour market effects of light rail transit
Many US cities have made large investments in light rail transit in order to improve commuting networks. I analyse the labour market effects of light rail in four US metros. I propose a new instrumental variable to overcome endogeneity in transit station location, enabling causal identification of neighbourhood effects. Light rail stations are found to drastically improve […]
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 […]
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 More