Which College Majors Pay the Most in Hawaiʻi and the US?
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
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…
Why Not Just Tax Them? A Middle Ground on Addressing Short-Term Rentals
By Dylan Moore Maui is at a crossroads, grappling with a severe housing crisis exacerbated by last year’s wildfires. In response, Mayor Richard Bissen has…
Potential opportunities to diversify the economy of Hawaiʻi
Read the full report By: Steven Bond-Smith and Sumit Ilamkar The economy of Hawaiʻi is extraordinarily concentrated in the tourism industry. As a result of…
Maui Short-Term Rentals, the Minatoya List, and Housing Supply
By Justin Tyndall and Emi Kim Recent state legislation has given counties new powers to regulate Transient Vacation Rental (TVR) properties. A proposal on Maui…
The Maui Wildfire Exposure Study receives $2.3M from the State of Hawaiʻi
The MauiWES project co-led by UHERO’s Ruben Juarez has received $2.3 million in funding from the State of Hawaiʻi. This funding will help MauiWES grow…
The Maui Wildfire Exposure Study receives a $1.4M grant from NIH
The Maui Wildfire Exposure Study (MauiWES) led by Ruben Juarez (UHERO) and Alika Maunakea (JABSOM) has received a $1.4 million grant from the NIH to…
UHERO welcomes Trey Gordner
We are pleased to welcome Trey Gordner, who joined UHERO in June as a Policy Researcher/Data Scientist and was recently named a Lincoln Institute Vibrant…
Recent findings from the Maui Wildfire Exposure Study featured in The Washington Post
Months after Maui fires, residents report troubling health problems A new report details respiratory ailments, mental health conditions and lack of access to medical care…
Co-Production of Knowledge at Sumida Farm Trains a New Generation of Community-Engaged Scientists
A collaboration between the University of Hawai‘i (UH), Hawai‘i Sea Grant, and the fourth generation of Sumida farmers focuses on training a new generation of…
Wealth by Association? How Social Networks Drive Inequality in Hawaii
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…
Taxing Tourists to Generate Revenue to Address the Negative Impacts of Climate Change on Hawai‘i Natural Resources
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…
Dissolving the Hawaii Tourism Authority
Read the summary blog post. By Paul Brewbaker, Frank Haas, and James Mak State lawmakers in the 2023 state legislature are bashing the Hawaii Tourism…
Public Campaign Financing: Evidence and Opportunities for Hawai‘i
By Colin Moore Concerns about the corrupting influence of money in politics have led to renewed interest in public campaign financing. Some argue that using…
Hawai‘i Tourism in Search of the Promised Land
By Paul Brewbaker, Frank Haas and James Mak Public pressure has been mounting on the Hawai‘i Tourism Authority (HTA) to shift its focus from mainly…
UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaiʻi: Expansion intact, but counties poised for slower growth
Hawaii’s economy will continue to grow, but at a slower pace than in past years. Maui rebuilding and the incremental return of international travelers will…
UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaiʻi: Near-term slowing expected as pandemic recovery ends
Hawaii’s economy has been sustained by a resilient US and the gradual return of international visitors. With the Islands’ post-pandemic recovery now largely complete, the…
UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaiʻi: State facing headwinds as Maui recovery begins
Hawaii’s economy has been resilient in the face of weakening US and global economies, high interest rates, and the glacial return of Japanese travelers. Deceleration…
UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaiʻi: Wildfires deliver heavy blow to Maui economy
The tragic Maui wildfires have inflicted deep pain and loss on the affected communities, and sorrow among all of Hawaii’s residents. There are also economic…
UHERO Forecast for the State of Hawaiʻi: Promise and Peril for the Hawaii Economy
Recent developments bring both promise and peril for Hawaii. Tourism prospects are positive, despite the delayed Japanese market recovery. Construction activity will remain high, and…
A Proposal for Real-Time Pricing Tariffs for Large Electricity Customers
As Oahu’s electric grid transitions to clean energy, characterized by variable wind, solar, and storage resources, the marginal cost of electricity will become increasingly variable…
Rural Health Disparities in Hawai‘i
This report examines the health disparities between rural and non-rural areas in Hawai‘i, using data from the June 2023 UHERO Rapid Survey. While rural areas…
Potential opportunities to diversify the economy of Hawai‘i
Read the summary blog post. The economy of Hawai‘i is extraordinarily concentrated in the tourism industry. As a result of tourism’s dominance, Hawai‘i’s economy faces…
Exploring the Gender Pay Gap in Hawai‘i
The US has made substantial progress in closing the historical earnings gap between men and women, but data from the American Community Survey (ACS) shows…
The Hawaii Housing Factbook 2024
The past year has brought significant shocks to the housing market in Hawai‘i. In 2023, only one in five local households could afford a mortgage…
Co-Production of Knowledge at Sumida Farm Trains a New Generation of Community-Engaged Scientists
A collaboration between the University of Hawai‘i (UH), Hawai‘i Sea Grant, and the fourth generation of Sumida farmers focuses on training a new generation of…
Threshold regressions for more objective urban and regional policies
Abstract: Achieving policy goals often requires different policies for different places, but the assignment of places to policies is often arbitrary, political, or based on…
Male-biased sex ratios, marriage, and household composition in early twentieth-century Hawai‘i
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 effect of front-end vehicle height on pedestrian death risk
Abstract: Pedestrian deaths in the US have risen in recent years. Concurrently, US vehicles have increased in size, which may pose a safety risk for…
Combining agglomeration economies and endogenous growth without scale effects
Abstract: Increasing returns to scale is essential to both spatial economics and macroeconomic growth. Spatial externalities imply external local increasing returns that generate an uneven…