The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has released a new study ranking each state’s readiness for an economic downturn.

States like Alaska and South Dakota are “flush with cash” and will likely do well.

But Hawaii joins Nevada, Oregon and Illinois as being “vulnerable.”

The study is based on the size of each state’s rainy-day savings fund and budget surplus.

“A few short years after the Great Recession, some states have managed to bounce back and prepare for the worst-case scenario,” the study’s author, economist Erick Elder of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, said in a press release. “Others failed to learn from the experience.”

The Mercatus Center bills itself as being for “market-oriented ideas — bridging the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems.”

But the Center for Media and Democracy says that the center is funded by the Koch Family Foundations — that is, Charles and David Koch, billionaire contributors to conservative politicians.

It is correct to say, however, that Hawaii has its share of fiscal challenges, something very much on the minds of local leaders and lawmakers in the legislative session that opens Jan. 20.