Matthew Fienup, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Center for Economic Research & Forecasting; Associate Professor, Economics
Areas of expertise: Applied Econometrics, Environmental Economics, Economic Policy Analysis, Land Use, Environmental Markets
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Matthew is the Executive Director of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting (CERF) at ÃÛÑ¿ÊÓƵ. He is also Associate Professor of Economics. Matthew is an applied economist who specializes in econometrics, economic policy analysis, land use, and environmental markets. Matthew is a member of the Wall Street Journal Economic Forecasting Survey. He was the recipient of 2019, 2020, 2021, and 2024 Crystal Ball Awards for the Fannie Mae (formerly Case-Shiller) Home Price Expectations Survey. CERF's 2-year ahead forecast of U.S. home prices was the single most accurate among more than 100 forecasts included in the survey. Matthew's work with CERF was featured on an episode of National Review's with David Bahnsen.
Matthew has spent more than a decade designing and administering the first groundwater markets to be implemented in California under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Matthew was integral to the design and implementation of the , where he served as Exchange Administrator for five years, and the Kaweah Sub-Basin Water Market. Matthew specializes in a stakeholder-centered process of . He has also built proprietary electronic trading software used in Fox Canyon and Kaweah Sub-Basin. Mathew's work on groundwater markets has been featured in the Economist Magazine, on NPR's Planet Money, and in more than a dozen industry publications and events.
Matthew is Project Director for the , an ambitious multi-disciplinary research initiative which seeks to document the large and rapidly growing economic contribution of Latinos living in the United States. Matthew coordinates a team of researchers at CERF and at UCLA who calculate Latino Gross Domestic Product (GDP) using a bottom-up construction that leverages publicly available data from major U.S. agencies. The Latino GDP research has been presented live to tens of thousands of individuals in ten different states and the District of Columbia, including to the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and ¡Adelante!, a system-wide Hispanic Heritage Month event of the U.S. Federal Reserve. The research has been covered in more than 800 separate features across print, digital and broadcast media, including the The Associated Press, Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch, Washington Post, Forbes, NBC News, CNBC, the Hill, LA Times, Univision and Telemundo.
Matthew returned to school to pursue his PhD after running a small business in Ventura County for more than a decade. His other specialties include California Natural History, technical rock climbing and . Matthew graduated summa cum laude from the Brooks Institute of Photography and has spent more than 15 years working as a professional climbing guide.
Matthew completed his doctorate in environmental economics at the Bren School of Environmental Science and Management at UC Santa Barbara.
Education
U.C. Santa Barbara - Bren School of Environmental Science & Management
- Ph.D., M.A.
Woodbury University
- Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude
Brooks Institute of Photography
- Associate in Arts, summa cum laude
University of Michigan School of Art
- completed Foundation Program in fine art