50th Anniversary Symposium, Journal of Regional Science, New York, April 2009

University Of California-Irvine, Irvine CA

Investigators

Abstract

Regional science has been distinguished by its focus on formal theories and models that link geography and economics. Economic activity is intimately linked to geography. Production and population centers cluster, and the location of economic activity is linked to patterns of regional wealth and disparities that affect the well-being of persons in developing and developed nations. In 2008, the economist Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel Prize for theoretical innovations linking trade and geography, and the summary from the Nobel selection committee included citations to the works of many regional scientists. As a field, regional scientists have been among the innovators in developing theories that explain the geographic distribution of economic activity, methods to statistically analyze geographic data, theories of urban economies, methodological contributions to transportation and land use planning models, and a host of other developments. While the importance of geography, economics, and cognate fields like demography and planning is on the rise in an era of globalization, urbanization, and regional disparities, disciplines often operate in intellectual silos and ply existing paradigms in ways that limit the cross-disciplinary fertilization that was a hallmark of early regional science. As part of the celebration of its 50th anniversary, the Journal of Regional Science will conduct a workshop at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in April 2008. Leading scholars in regional science and related disciplines will participate in the workshop to engage in a broad-ranging and forward-looking discussion of future opportunities and intellectual challenges for regional science and its disciplinary partners. The symposium will provide an opportunity for scholars to engage in frank discussions and exchanges that would not occur in the standard journal submission process, by email, or at typical academic conferences. The symposium will lead to a more polished vision of regional science's future. The results of the symposium will be broadly disseminated through the 50th anniversary special issue of the Journal of Regional Science, through pre-publication working papers that will be posted on a publicly accessible web site at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, through a summary piece that will be posted on the web site, and through plenary sessions at regional science conferences throughout the year in advance of the special issue's publication. The symposium will provide an excellent opportunity to enable participants to assess what where the field stands and what needs to be done to facilitate future transformative changes in regional science and its cognate disciplines. The workshop also should help address disconnects between the paradigms and approaches used in regional science, geography, and economics, thereby spurring stronger interdisciplinary linking among the complementary fields and disciplines.