The 2022 Hawaiʻi legislative session included extraordinary examples of the types of actions policymakers can take to rewrite the economic rulebook.

An analysis of Hawaiʻi’s pandemic-era rent relief and pre-litigation mediation program created through Act 57 (2021).

How expanding the state Earned Income Tax Credit to make it refundable can boost the economy and provide opportunity to Hawaiʻi’s working families.

Tax credits can fine-tune the tax system to promote social welfare and encourage economic activity by delivering targeted tax relief.

Policymakers have shaped an economy that relies far too much on extractive tourism that provides little to residents in return. To reverse these trends, we need a dramatic shift in our public policy. 

Hawaiʻi’s post-COVID-19 economy should be one informed by an understanding that the old economic order had been failing many Hawaiʻi residents for decades.

An overview of Hawaiʻi’s senior hunger safety net and how to strengthen it.

Not only would a minimum wage increase help to improve the living standards of affected Hawaiʻi workers, but it would also strengthen local businesses, as low-wage workers plow almost every additional dollar of earnings back into the local economy.

The Need for a Working Family Credit

How Hawaiʻi’s low-income residents are faring post-recovery.

Survey results show half of Hawaiʻi's households are living "paycheck to paycheck."

Cutting taxes to strengthen the economy and boost Hawaiʻi’s families: A refundable state Earned Income Tax Credit.

The High Cost of Our Affordable Housing Shortfall

SNAP and the EITC in Hawaiʻi

Recommendations to the Hawaiʻi State Legislature

How the Great Recession disproportionately impacted Hawaiʻi’s disadvantaged, and policy recommendations to achieve fairness.