Welcome to CAFIN!
The Center for Analytical Finance (CAFIN) is a group of researchers whose aim is to solve real-world problems of finance in a globalized financial system. We seek to:
- Push the frontiers of financial knowledge
- Demystify financial markets and practitioners
- Teach modern finance in broader context to empower consumers in financial decision-making
- Show how to level the playing field, improving access to financial markets and services
- Identify problems in financial markets and how to fix them
- Bring experts from outside finance to provide context and unique skills
Research Bulletins
- What’s Needed to Attract Private Finance of Climate Solutions?Issue 6. 06/22/2023 The Center for Analytical Finance (CAFIN), The Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR) at UC Santa Cruz (UCSC), U.C. Investments, Centre for Economic Policy (CEP), and Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business jointly hosted the “Catalyzing Private Financial Markets for Climate Solutions” workshop on June 9th, 2023 at Santa Clara University’s… Read more: What’s Needed to Attract Private Finance of Climate Solutions?
- SEC Proposed Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related DisclouresIssue 5. 05/04/2022 On March 21, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed new rules that would require publicly traded companies to disclose their climate-related financial risks. The press release and the links to the related publications are available from the SEC page. In this issue of the CAFIN bulletin, we briefly discuss the reason… Read more: SEC Proposed Rules to Enhance and Standardize Climate-Related Discloures
- Settling Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net-ZeroIssue 4. 01/03/2022 On November 5, 2021, the CAFIN and UC Investment Speaker Series hosted Dr Alicia Seiger, Lecturer at Stanford Law School, Managing Director at Precourt Institute Sustainable Finance Initiative, and Managing Director at Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance, in conversation with Dr Galina Hale, Professor of Economics at UC Santa Cruz.… Read more: Settling Climate Accounts: Navigating the Road to Net-Zero
Featured Research
Working Paper No. 2302: Business Cycles and the Balance Sheets of the Financial and Non-financial Sectors
Author: Alonso Villacorta
Abstract: I propose and estimate a model in which bank and firm net worth influence output dynamics. Firm borrowing capacity depends on firm net worth. Banks lend to firms and use their diversified portfolio as collateral, expanding the flow of funds. Banks require net worth due to aggregate risk. Aggregate firm and bank net worth determine activity. The net worth distribution is only relevant in banking crises, in those, shocks to bank net worth have an effect beyond standard financial frictions models. A novel bank accelerator helps explain output, bank net worth, lending and spreads during the 1990, 2001, and 2008 recessions.
Link: Download Here
News & Events
- CAFIN News, January 2024In a recent article, Climate Risks and FDI, Prof. Galina Hale and Prof. Grace Gu, Co-Director and Steering Committee Member of CAFIN, respectively, study whether multinational firms react to climate risks (physical risk in terms of disasters and transition risk in terms of climate-change mitigation policies). They answer this question by examining the dynamics of Foreign… Read more: CAFIN News, January 2024
- CAFIN’s 2022 Annual NewsletterArticle By Galina Hale and Nirvikar Singh, Co-Directors of CAFIN Note from the Co-DirectorsGalina Hale and Nirvikar Singh The 2021-2022 academic year was the beginning of a return to normalcy. While we continued with our virtual speaker series, and our flagship event of the year had to be turned into a virtual one at the last minute, we… Read more: CAFIN’s 2022 Annual Newsletter