Edwin T. Fujii

Tourism and crime: Implications for regional development policy

Fujii E. T. and Mak J. (1980) Tourism and crime: implications for regional development policy, Reg. Studies 14, 27–36. This paper investigates the hypothesis that tourism generates environmental externalities in the form of increased crimes against persons and property using annual time series data over the period 1961–1975 and cross-section data for 1975 from the State of Hawaii. We find that an increase in the proportion of tourists in the population results in a significantly greater number of burglaries and rapes than a comparable increase in other population subgroups. The implications of the results for regional development planning of the visitor industry are then explored.

Empirical aspects of self-employment

Abstract We employ a switching equations model to examine the determinants of the choice of self-employment or wage and salary work and compensation in each mode of employment. Our results are surprisingly consistent with the previous literature on human capital.

Forecasting tourism demand; some methodological issues.

This paper investigates methodological issues in forecasting tourism demand. We demonstrate that the employment of extended Box-Cox autoregressive tests for functional form and ridge regression to control for substantial and changing patterns of collinearity among the explanatory variables substantially increases forecast precision relative to extensively used OLS techniques.

An Empirical Analysis of Preferences for Financial Risk: Further Evidence on the Friedman-Savage Model

This is an empirical examination of systematic factors goveming preferences for financial risk. It provides further empirical evidence on the Friedman-Savage model (1948) and extends the empirical work of J. Paul Leigh (1986). The paper is novel in several respects. First, it explicitly addresses preferences forflnancialrisk and not risk in general. Indeed, most of modem economic theory focuses on willingness to bear financial risk. Second, since risk is measured in an ordinal fashion in terms of increased willingness to undertake additional financial risk, we employ the ordered logit analysis of McKelvey and Zavoina (1975) as implemented in LIMDEP (Greene, 1990), avoiding problems inherent in the use of ordinary least squares.

The impact of alternative regional development strategies on crime rates: Tourism vs. agriculture in Hawaii

In recent years, Hawaiis exports have been dominated by tourism. Expansion of resort development, however, has frequently displaced agricultural land uses. This paper examines the hypothesis that an alteration in the composition of economic activity in the form of a displacement of agriculture by resort development will increase crime with a cross-section analysis of the determinants of crime rates for the island of Oahu in 1975 and a parallel time series analysis for Hawaii over the period 1961–1975. Empirical estimates indicate that a significantly greater amount of burglaries, rapes, and larcenies will occur. Policy implications are then explored.

Forecasting Travel Demand When the Explanatory Variables Are Highly Correlated

This paper discusses the problem of multicollinearity among explanatory variables commonly encountered in travel demand forecasting by using ridge regression. The authors demonstrate that when severe multicollinearity exists and the pattern of collinearity among regressors changes over time, ridge regression models yield forecasts with significantly lower forecast error than ordinary least squares models.

A Model of Household Electricity Conservation Behavior

In this paper, the authors develop a model that explains household choice of electricity conservation modes. The model is based on the premise that households will adopt those conservation modes that yield benefits greater than perceived costs. They find that households differ in the conservation modes they adopt. High-income households are more likely to adopt expenditure-intensive methods, while low-income households are more likely to adopt time-intensive conservation methods. The results suggest a possible explanation as to why high-income families and residents of single-detached homes are observed to save the largest (absolute) amount of energy. A popular explanation is that these households consume the most energy and thus would be most likely to benefit. The authors suggest an alternative explanation. 37 references, 4 tables.

Discouraged applicants for consumer credit: Empirical evidence and implications for public policy

Abstract Discouragement among potential applicants for consumer credit, controlling for income, net worth, past debt payment practices, and stability of lifestyle, is significantly greater among non-white households, households with female heads, and single females.

The impact of hotel size on staffing levels in Hawaii

Abstract Using cross-section data from a survey of hotels and apartment hotels in Hawaii, this article examines some influences upon the level of employment per room. The findings confirm that the size, the type (hotel or apartment hotel), the quality of the accommodation, and the kind of guests (group or independent travellers), all have significant impacts on the amount and kind of employment generated.