Sumner La Croix
Taxing Tourists to Generate Revenue to Address the Negative Impacts of Climate Change on Hawai‘i Natural Resources April 5, 2024 There is widespread agreement among Hawai‘i residents that the state government needs to spend more money on natural resource stewardship. A critical question is how best to pay for it. In his January 2024 State of the State Address, Governor Josh Green said that “we must do more to protect our beaches, parks, and other… Read More
UHERO’s Sumner La Croix elected President of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand February 28, 2024 At its annual meeting on 17 February 2024, the members of the Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand elected Sumner La Croix (University of Hawaii at Mānoa) to be President of the Society for a two-year term. La Croix has published numerous articles and books on Australian and Pacific economic history, including his… Read More
Male-biased sex ratios, marriage, and household composition in early twentieth-century Hawai‘i January 31, 2024 Abstract: Immigration to Hawai‘i between 1870 and 1930 led to a more than six-fold increase in population and high and rapidly varying sex ratios in the Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino, and Caucasian populations of marriageable age. Using complete populations of the 1910, 1920, and 1930 Territorial Censuses of Hawai‘i, we estimate how male-biased ethnic sex… Read More New publication by Timothy Halliday and Sumner La Croix in the Asia-Pacific Economic History Review January 31, 2024 In a new publication in the Asia-Pacific Economic History Review, Timothy Halliday and Sumner La Croix examine how male-biased ethnic sex ratios affected choices of second-generation men and women of marriageable age as a result of immigration to Hawaii between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. https://doi.org/10.1111/aehr.12280 Read More
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 Moore, Dylan Moore, Nori Tarui, Justin Tyndall, and Chris Wada The immediate recovery efforts from the devastating Maui wildfires continue, and at UHERO we share our community’s anguish over the… Read More
A Comparison of State-Level Carbon Reduction Strategies: A Case Study of Hawai‘i March 16, 2023 Abstract: State-level electricity standards are proliferating and becoming more ambitious, with numerous US states adopting a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) and a small but increasing number of states participating in carbon pricing programs. The State of Hawai‘i has an ambitious RPS that requires 100% electricity generation through renewable sources by 2045. This study uses a… Read More
Sumner La Croix awarded the Best Paper of 2021 by Economic Record September 1, 2022 A paper by UHERO’s Sumner La Croix, “Australia’s Forgotten Copper Mining Boom: Understanding How South Australia Avoided Dutch Disease” was awarded the Best Paper of 2021 by the journal Economic Record. In an announcement, the selection panel stated, “While there were many excellent papers, the committee was of the view that this paper was a… Read More
Economic and GHG impacts of a US state-level carbon tax: the case of Hawai’i April 19, 2022 A new paper by a team from UHERO published in Climate Policy finds that a carbon tax for Hawai‘i set at the federal social cost of carbon would reduce cumulative GHG emissions by 10% relative to the baseline from 2025 to 2045. They find that when carbon tax revenues are paid as equal-share dividends to Hawai‘i… Read More
Does air pollution increase electric vehicle adoption? Evidence from U.S. metropolitan areas, 2011–2018 April 15, 2022 A publication in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Policy by a team of economists including UHERO’s Coffman, Hayashida, and La Croix shows that changes in local air pollution within U.S. metropolitan areas are associated with changes in consumer purchases of new EVs. The authors find a positive association between PM2.5 pollution and BEV adoption, and a negative… Read More
The Maui County Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan: Understanding its Pros and Cons and Ideas for How to Improve it October 21, 2021 By Carl Bonham and Sumner La Croix A team of 19 planners, engineers, data and policy analysts, attorneys, and community development professionals has developed a comprehensive plan for the development of affordable housing in Maui County. The Maui County Comprehensive Affordable Housing Plan is a major step forward in developing coherent strategies to address Maui… Read More Australia’s Forgotten Copper Mining Boom: Understanding How South Australia Avoided Dutch Disease, 1843–1850 September 1, 2021 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 More
Is a Carbon Tax Viable for a Small Island Economy? June 17, 2021 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 More
Traffic in Honolulu: How to Make Transitory Pandemic Gains Permanent April 26, 2021 By Justin Tyndall and Sumner La Croix During the COVID-19 pandemic, Honolulu traffic became much less congested. Local and state governments could help residents keep the social benefits from traffic control by providing incentives to private firms to stagger hours and/or keep more employees working at home. A congestion zone fee to drive within the downtown-to-Waikiki corridor… Read More
The Hawaii Film Tax Credit: An Update March 30, 2021 By Sumner La Croix and James Mak In 1997, Hawaii was one of the first states to grant tax credits to attract content producers to film their projects in the state. As of January 2021, 32 states offer tax credits to defray qualifying expenses of filming movie/TV productions. The competition to attract film/TV productions now… Read More
Understanding the Role of the Hawaii Film/TV/Digital Production Tax Credit In Diversifying the Hawaii Economy March 15, 2021 By Sumner La Croix and James Mak Blog: The Hawaii Film Tax Credit: An Update Hawaii is one of 32 states in 2020 to offer a tax credit to film, TV, and digital productions through the Hawaii Motion Picture, Digital Media and Film Production Tax Credit (hereafter “film credit”). Since the passage of the film… Read More