Date/Time: October 31, 2023, 12:00pm-1:30pm

Location: Social Science Matrix, 820 Social Sciences Building, UC Berkeley

During the peak of the most recent tech upswing, downtown San Francisco was booming. Now, after the pandemic and a new round of tech layoffs, commentators fear that the so-called “doom loop” has come to valuable commercial real estate. While boom and bust cycles are not new to The City, what can we learn from the struggles of commercial real estate?  

Join us on October 31, 2023 as a group of panelists will discuss the current state of commercial real estate in San Francisco — and what lies ahead. Panelists include Ted Egan, Chief Economist of the City and County of San Francisco; Nicholas Bloom, the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University; and Nancy Wallace, the Lisle and Roslyn Payne Chair in Real Estate Capital Markets at Berkeley Haas. Amir Kermani, Associate Professor of Finance and Real Estate at the Haas School of Business and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, will moderate.

Co-sponsored by Social Science Matrix, Global Metropolitan Studies (GMS), Haas School of Business, and the Fisher Center for Real Estate & Urban Economics.

REGISTER TO ATTEND

This panel is presented as part of the California Spotlight and Matrix on Point event series. This will be a hybrid event, presented both in-person at Social Science Matrix (820 Social Sciences Building on the UC Berkeley campus) and online. All registrants will receive a Zoom link prior to the event.

If you require an accommodation for effective communication (ASL interpreting/CART captioning, alternative media formats, etc.) or information about campus mobility access features in order to fully participate in this event, please contact Chuck Kapelke at ckapelke@berkeley.edu with as much advance notice as possible and at least 7-10 days in advance of the event.

Panelists

Ted Egan is the Chief Economist of the City and County of San Francisco, and directs the Office of Economic Analysis in the City Controller’s Office, which prepares independent economic analysis of major new city legislation. Since he joined in 2007, his office has published over 100 economic impact reports on policy issues like the minimum wage, affordable housing, business taxes, land use planning, sporting events, and short-term rentals.  During this time at the City, he has served as an expert witness on the economics of same-sex marriage, and won a Good Government award for his work redesigning the City’s business tax.  He also currently serves on the Data Users Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Nicholas Bloom is the William Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University. His research focuses on working from home, management practices and uncertainty. He previously worked at the UK Treasury and McKinsey & Company and the IFS. He has a BA from Cambridge, an MPhil from Oxford, and a PhD from University College London. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the recipient of the Guggenheim and Sloan Fellowships, the Frisch Medal and a National Science Foundation Career Award. He was elected to Bloomberg50 for his advice on working from home.

Nancy Wallace is the Lisle and Roslyn Payne Chair in Real Estate Capital Markets at Berkeley Haas. She serves as chair of the Real Estate Group and co-chair of the Fisher Center for Real Estate and Urban Economics. Wallace is an expert in mortgages, mortgage-related securities, and other real estate topics.

Amir Kermani is Associate Professor of Finance and Real Estate at the Haas School of Business and Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research examines monetary policy, household finance, financial intermediation, and political economy.