In the 2010s San Francisco’s economy was transformed by the growth of the tech industry. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the lengthy shutdown, and the tech industry’s adoption of remote work, led to a collapse of the city’s commercial real estate market. Tech layoffs, beginning in 2022, compounded the difficulties. However since 2023, San Francisco has seen unprecedented levels of venture capital funding related to AI. This talk will explore how AI is both fueling growth and provoking a restructuring retrenchment in the largest industry of a city still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.
This talk is co-sponsored by the University of Toronto’s School of Cities and the Institute on Municipal Finance & Governance.
About the speaker
Dr. 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. The office prepares independent economic analysis of major City legislation.
Before his career in the public sector, he spent ten years at ICF International, managing economic development strategy projects across the U.S., Canada, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East. In 1999, he authored “Toronto Competes: An Assessment of Toronto’s Global Competitiveness”, which formed a key part of the City of Toronto’s first post-amalgamation economic development plan.
Since he joined the City in 2007, his office has published over 100 economic impact reports on virtually every major economic policy issue facing the city, including minimum wage, affordable housing, taxes and fees, land use planning, sporting events, labor regulation, 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 from SPUR for his work redesigning the City’s business tax. From 2019-2023 he served on the Data Users Advisory Committee of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Dr. Egan received his Ph.D. in City and Regional Planning from UC Berkeley, and lectured in the Economics and City Planning departments at Berkeley from 2004 to 2018.
