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Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics

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AEDE’s Strong Presence at the 59th Annual Conference of the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC)

Nov. 1, 2012

  From November 7-10, 2012, the North American Regional Science Council (NARSC), which is a member of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI), will hold its 59th annual conference in Ottawa, Canada. AEDE will have a strong presence at the meeting with faculty members Alessandra Faggian (Associate Professor), Elena G. Irwin (Professor), and Mark Partridge (Professor and Swank Chair in Rural-Urban Policy), all participating in the meeting’s various sessions. These faculty members have also played significant roles in helping to plan this year’s event. Additionally, AEDE Ph.D. students Matthew K. Gnagey, Amanda L. Weinstein, Douglas Wrenn and Wendong Zhang will present research at a number of the conference’s events. Some highlights of AEDE’s participation are noted below. 

NARSC governance and conference planning:

  • Mark Partridge and Alessandra Faggian are both on the conference’s 2012 Organizing and Program Committee.
  • Alessandra Faggian and Elena G. Irwin are voting members of NARSC and they both serve as Councilor-at-Large for the organization. Elena G. Irwin also serves as a representative to RSAmericas on behalf of NARSC.
  • Alessandra Faggian (with Elizabeth Mack from Arizona State University) organized and will chair a series of seven special sessions at the conference focused on regional development. The themes of these sessions include: location and agglomeration; migration; entrepreneurship; knowledge and innovation; arts and culture; amenities, health, and tourism; and industrial location. 
  • Mark Partridge and Alessandra Faggian also both serve on the RSAI Executive Council and Long-Range Planning Committee, which is the international regional science governing body that coordinates regional science in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, which NARSC is a member of.


AEDE participation in the event’s various meetings include the following:

Thursday, November 8, 2012

  • Amanda L. Weinstein will present “Labor Market Restructuring in Shale Gas Booms”, authored with Mark Partridge, at the 8:00-10:00am discussion on Energy.
  • Elena G. Irwin will present “Time is Money: An Empirical Examination of the Dynamic Effects of Regulatory Uncertainty on Residential Subdivision Development”, authored by Douglas Wrenn, at the 8:00-10:00am discussion on Urban Economics.
  • When Spatial Equilibrium Fails: Is Place-Based Policy Second Best?”, authored by Mark Partridge with Dan S. Rickman and Ying Tan both from Oklahoma State University and M. Rose Olfert from the University of Saskatchewan, will be presented at the 1:30-3:30pm discussion on Regional Development: Location and Agglomeration. 
  • Wendong Zhang will present “Tests of the Urban Economic Model Using a New Measure of Leapfrog Development”, authored with Douglas Wrenn and Elena G. Irwin, at the 1:30-3:30pm discussion on Urban Land Use. This research will also be presented from 1:30-3:30pm at the Urban Land Use Session of the 7th Annual Meeting of the Urban Economics Association, which is being held simultaneously to the NARSC conference.
  • “The Chicken-Egg of Knowledge Workers and Advanced Technology Industries”, authored by Mark Partridge with Belal Fallah from Palestine Polytechnic University and Michael Betz from Ohio State, will be presented at the 1:30-3:30pm discussion on Human Capital: Productivity and Innovation.
  • From 4:00-6:00pm Mark Partridge will chair the Journal of Regional Science’s Special Session, “New looks at Urban Agglomeration”. Partridge currently serves as a Co-Editor of the journal.
  • “Rural Rebound: Determinants of Metro to Non-Metro Migration in the U.S.”, authored by Mark Partridge with Anil Rupasingha from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and Yongzheng Liu from George State University, will be presented at the 4:00-6:00pm session on Regional/Rural Development: Entrepreneurship and Labor Markets.
  • “A Case for Amenity-Driven Growth? Estimating Heterogeneous Household Demand for Lake Amenities and Industrial Disamenities in the Great Lakes Region”, authored by Elena G. Irwin and AEDE’s Assistant Professor H. Allen Klaiber with Heather Stephens from California State University, will be presented at the 4:00-6:00pm session on Culture and Amenities.


Friday, November 9, 2012

  • From 7:00-8:00am Mark Partridge will chair the Journal of Regional Science’s Editorial Board meeting.
  • “Rent/Value Ratios in Spatial Disequilibrium: Booming versus Lagging Cities”, authored by Alessandra Faggian, Mark Partridge, and Philip Graves from the University of Colorado-Boulder, will be presented at the 8:00-10:00am session on Regional Development: Migration. “College Student Migration in the United States, 2000-2009: Implications for Regional Human Capital Distribution”, authored by Alessandra Faggian with Rachel S. Franklin from Brown University, will also be presented at this session.
  • Matthew K. Gnagey will present “A Semi-Parametric Analysis of Land Prices in Exurbia”, authored with Elena G. Irwin, at the 1:30-3:30pm session on Spatial Statistics: Applications II.  This session will also be chaired by Elena G. Irwin.


Saturday, November 10, 2012


NARSC promotes the scholarly exchange of ideas and knowledge that apply to urban and regional phenomena in North America and across the globe. The organization is a member of the Regional Science Association International (RSAI), which coordinates the activities of regional scientists globally. NARSC is a founding member of the Regional Association of the Americas.

The annual NARSC conference brings together hundreds of regional scientists in North America and provides a forum for interaction and discussion. Conference sessions involve scholarly presentations, followed by comments and critique, as well as questions and answers from the audience. A number of awards are given out at the conference on the last day of the event.

To see more details regarding the conference program, participants and presentations, please see the NARSC website.

November 2, 2012