BEAR, Berkeley Economic Advising and Research
Sather Tower, the UC Berkeley Campanile, lit at dusk with the bay and hills behind

BEAR provides economic solutions for data center impact studies, regulatory impact assessment, minimum wage studies, energy facility transitions, major events and local revenue, housing and regional economics, and international development.

New Data center impact studies for California cities and counties At least 26 have passed or proposed data center moratoriums, bans or resolutions since June. BEAR gives councils the tax ledger, the effect on power bills and the jobs before they vote. See the study

Economic analysis that holds up, and the team that defends it.

Berkeley Economic Advising and Research (BEAR) builds and applies a dynamic general equilibrium model of the California economy, with results down to the census tract. Agencies, cities, utilities and the development banks use it to learn what a rule, a wage floor or a plant closure will do before it happens.

See the record Work with BEAR

Founded in Berkeley in 2002 by David Roland-Holst of the UC Berkeley faculty. California certified Small Business (Micro), no. 2026547.

Since 2002 BEAR has prepared nine Standardized Regulatory Impact Assessments on the Department of Finance record, forecast jobs for 8,000 California census tracts, and held more than 30 Asian Development Bank contracts.

Selected projects

Choose an area or an engagement below, or see the list of all projects.

Where the model has been put to work

The questions agencies, cities and the development banks bring to BEAR most often. The record also runs to food security, animal disease and trade; see the full range.

A spreadsheet counts compliance costs. An economy absorbs them.

Direct-cost accounting says what a rule bills to the regulated party. It cannot say where that money goes next: which sectors contract, which expand, and what happens to jobs, household income and state revenue over ten years.

The BEAR model is calibrated to the Department of Finance baseline and resolved by sector, household income group and place, down to census tracts.

How the model works, and where the state has used it

  1. 2006Economywide analysis of California’s first climate strategies and AB 32, for CalEPA and the Air Resources Board.
  2. 2016The economic and disadvantaged-community volumes of the California ISO’s SB 350 regional grid study.
  3. 2017Tested against REMI, IMPLAN and RIMS II for the Energy Commission’s SRIA program.
  4. 2018Job forecasts to 2050 for about 8,000 census tracts, for the Energy Commission.
  5. 2026The California ISO’s AB 825 California Jobs Study, forecasting electric power jobs to 2040.

Clients include

State agencies, cities, a utility and the development banks.

  • California Air Resources BoardCARB
  • California Energy CommissionCEC
  • California Public Utilities CommissionCPUC
  • California ISOCAISO
  • California Department of JusticeDOJ
  • Department of Industrial Relations / Cal-OSHADIR
  • California Highway PatrolCHP
  • California Privacy Protection AgencyCPPA
  • Geologic Energy Management DivisionCalGEM
  • California Environmental Protection AgencyCalEPA
  • Oregon Carbon Policy Office
  • Southern California Association of GovernmentsSCAG
  • City of Los Angeles
  • City of Culver City
  • Pacific Gas and ElectricPG&E
  • World Bank
  • Asian Development BankADB
  • Food and Agriculture Organization of the UNFAO
  • UN Development ProgrammeUNDP
  • Next 10

Reported and cited

Where the work has been covered, and where agencies have presented it.

All coverage

Evaluating BEAR for a solicitation or a team?

Certifications, identifiers, past performance and a one-page capability statement, on one page.

Work with BEAR Capability statement