UHERO

Education

What Happens After Job Training? Preliminary Wage and Employment Insights from Good Jobs Hawai‘i

What Happens After Job Training? Preliminary Wage and Employment Insights from Good Jobs Hawai‘i

July 7, 2025

By Rachel Inafuku and Tim Halliday Hawai‘i’s workforce has long faced a persistent challenge: high living costs combined with a concentration of low-wage, low-skill employment.…

Publication: Vog: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Air Pollution on Student Test Scores

Publication: Vog: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Air Pollution on Student Test Scores

June 25, 2025

We pair variation stemming from volcanic eruptions with the census of Hawaii’s public schools’ student test scores to estimate the impact of PM2.5 and SOM2…

Which College Majors Pay the Most in Hawaiʻi and the US?

Which College Majors Pay the Most in Hawaiʻi and the US?

August 22, 2024

By Rachel Inafuku and Tim Halliday Despite recent discussions in the popular press, a college degree is well worth its investment. In a recent UHERO…

How Expanding Access to Preschool Can Benefit Hawaii’s Future

How Expanding Access to Preschool Can Benefit Hawaii’s Future

August 1, 2024

By: Rachel Inafuku The State of Hawaii has identified a significant gap in preschool enrollment among its youngest learners. Of the 33,224 3- and 4-year…

Wealth by Association? How Social Networks Drive Inequality in Hawaii

Wealth by Association? How Social Networks Drive Inequality in Hawaii

April 25, 2024

Studies show that economic connectedness, a poor individual’s share of wealthy friends, significantly impacts economic mobility. Hawaii ranks highly in this metric compared to other…

Why College Is Worth the Investment: Estimating the Returns to a College Degree from the University of Hawai`i system

Why College Is Worth the Investment: Estimating the Returns to a College Degree from the University of Hawai`i system

January 16, 2024

By Tim Halliday and Rachel Inafuku Read the full report. Across the nation, the cost of higher education has significantly increased over the past 20…

Estimating the Returns to Higher Education Using Administrative Data: A Case Study of the University of Hawai`i System

Estimating the Returns to Higher Education Using Administrative Data: A Case Study of the University of Hawai`i System

January 16, 2024

What is the value of a degree from the University of Hawai`i (UH)? While college tuition has significantly increasednationally, tuition within the UH system has…

The Nature, Causes, and Consequences of Student Deselection and Criminalization

The Nature, Causes, and Consequences of Student Deselection and Criminalization

October 9, 2023

By Katherine Irwin and James Roumasset1 A central principle of public economics is that the government should correct market failures. For example, when a firm’s…

After the Maui wildfires: The road ahead.

After the Maui wildfires: The road ahead.

August 31, 2023

By Steven Bond-Smith, Daniela Bond-Smith, Carl Bonham, Leah Bremer, Kim Burnett, Makena Coffman, Peter Fuleky, Byron Gangnes, Rachel Inafuku, Ruben Juarez, Sumner La Croix, Colin…