Rachel Inafuku
Only the fit survive recessions: Estimating labor market penalties for the obese over the business cycle
Abstract: The obesity epidemic is a growing concern in the United States. Aside from the detrimental health effects of obesity, previous work has also documented a negative relationship between obesity and various labor market outcomes. Given that the American adult obesity rate is roughly 40%, obesity affects a large portion of the US labor market. […]
Read MoreThe Hawai‘i Housing Factbook
Residents of Hawai‘i face the highest housing costs in the nation. High housing costs lower the standard of living for residents and hinder the State’s ability to attract workers. Some households are forced to live in crowded conditions, some leave the state to find housing elsewhere, and some are forced to survive without housing at […]
Read MoreShort-term Vacation Rentals and Housing Costs in Hawaiʻi
By Rachel Inafuku and Justin Tyndall Of the state’s 565,000 total housing units, 30,000 are listed as Short-term Vacation Rentals (STRs), meaning roughly 5% of local housing units operate as tourist accommodations. In a tight housing market with high prices and barriers to creating new supply, removing supply from the long-term housing market could harm […]
Read MoreVOG – Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Pollutants on Learning Outcomes
By Rachel Inafuku. Joint research with Tim Halliday, Lester Lusher and Aureo de Paula. Introduction While an extensive number of studies have shown that pollution is detrimental to human health, a smaller, growing body of literature has found that pollution also negatively impacts cognitive performance. Research has shown that increases in pollutants lead to decreased […]
Read MoreVOG: Using Volcanic Eruptions to Estimate the Impact of Air Pollution on Student Learning Outcomes
This study pairs variation stemming from volcanic eruptions from Kilauea with the census of Hawai‘i’s public schools student test scores to estimate the impact of particulates and sulfur dioxide on student performance. We leverage spatial correlations in pollution in conjunction with proximity to Kilauea and wind direction to construct predictions of pollution exposure at each […]
Read MoreMeasuring the Burden of Housing Regulation in Hawaii
By Rachel Inafuku, Justin Tyndall, and Carl Bonham Home prices in Hawaii are among the highest in the nation: in 2021 the median single-family home resale price was about two and a half times the national median. One of the factors that may explain Hawaii’s high home prices are government regulations that limit the ability of the housing market to […]
Read MoreMultipliers and the effectiveness of government policies
By Byron Gangnes, Rachel Inafuku, and Peter Fuleky The economic shutdown in Hawaii and elsewhere due to the novel coronavirus has led to sharp reductions in employment and private spending, as well as historically large government fiscal responses. Analysis of the effects of changes in government spending and employment policies requires estimates of how much […]
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