Publications
A density-dependent multi-species model to assess groundwater flow and nutrient transport in the coastal Keauhou aquifer, Hawai‘i, USA.
Fresh groundwater is a critical resource supporting coastal ecosystems that rely on low-salinity, nutrient-rich groundwater discharge. This resource, however, is subject to contamination from point- and nonpoint-sources such as on-site sewage disposal systems (OSDS) and urban developments. Thus, the significance of flow and transport processes near the coastline due to density effects and water circulation […]
Read MoreIntra-familial transfers, son preference, and retirement behavior in South Korea
Abstract: We consider the nexus of intra-familial transfers, the sex composition of the sibship, and parental retirement behavior in South Korea. To investigate this, we employ the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging and a research design that relies on plausibly exogenous variation in the sex composition of the sibship. We provide evidence that it costs […]
Read MoreThe effects of population aging on South Korea’s economy: The National Transfer Accounts approach
This study examines how two factors of population aging, changes in fertility and mortality, will respectively affect South Korea’s economic future. The economic effects of population aging are examined by considering the population in each age group under alternative demographic scenarios. Utilizing recent population projections and South Korea’s National Transfer Accounts, the paper applies a simple decomposition model […]
Read MoreExpanding Health Insurance for the Elderly of the Philippines
Abstract: This paper evaluates a Filipino policy that expanded health insurance coverage of its senior citizens, aged 60 and older, in 2014. We employ an instrumental variables estimator in which the first stage is a difference-in-differences specification that exploits the age discontinuity at age 60, along with data from before and after the policy. First stage […]
Read MoreIdentifying wastewater management tradeoffs: costs, nearshore water quality, and implications for marine coastal ecosystems in Kona, Hawai‘i
Untreated and minimally treated wastewater discharged into the environment have the potential to adversely affect groundwater dependent ecosystems and nearshore marine health. Addressing this issue requires a systems approach that links land use and wastewater management decisions to potential impacts on the nearshore marine environment via changes in water quality and quantity. To that end, […]
Read MoreThe Effects of Utility Revenue Decoupling on Electricity Prices
Revenue decoupling (RD) is a regulatory mechanism that allows adjustments of retail electricity rates for the regulated utility to recover its required revenue despite fluctuations in its sales volume. The U.S. utility data in 2000–2019 reveals that RD is associated with about a 4-percentage point higher growth rate of residential electricity prices within the first year after […]
Read MoreThe unintended consequences of increasing returns to scale in geographical economics
Increasing returns to scale is the basis for many powerful results in economics and economic geography. But the limitations of assumptions about returns to scale in economic growth theories are often ignored when applied to geography. This leads to an unintentional bias favoring scale and mistaken conclusions about geography, scale and growth. Alternatively, this bias […]
Read MoreAustralia’s Forgotten Copper Mining Boom: Understanding How South Australia Avoided Dutch Disease, 1843–1850
Abstract: Great Britain established the new colony of South Australia (SA) in 1834, and migration from Britain to the colony began in 1836. After seven turbulent years, the discovery of two large deposits of copper at Kapunda (1843–4) and Burra (1844–5) renewed the colony’s economic prospects. Over the 1845–50 period, SA supplied roughly 9 per […]
Read MoreThe Economics of Health and Migration
Abstract: Migration and health are intimately connected. It is known that migrants tend to be healthier than non-migrants. However, the mechanisms for this association are elusive. On the one hand, the costs of migration are lower for healthier people, thereby making it easier for the healthy to migrate. Empirical evidence from a variety of contexts shows […]
Read More