WRSA: Paper (or Abstract) Submission Due Date for 2020 WRSA/PRSCO Joint Meeting Extended to December 15!

What a Surprise! It’s the traditional extension of the paper (or abstract) submission deadline for our annual meeting in Waikiki, Hawaii, March 18-21, 2020. We will accept submissions until mid-December. 
This year’s FINAL deadline will be December 15.
Be sure to get your paper (or abstract) submitted before then!

Ready to submit? There’s no reason to wait until the last minute. Simply visit the WRSA website and use the Login/Register link at the left to upload your paper and register for the meeting.

Remember that the hard deadline for the Graduate Students’ Paper Competition for Tiebout Prize is still November 15. If you are applying for Tiebout Paper Competition, submit your full paper by Nov 15.

I also encourage you to make your travel arrangements early. We will be meeting at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort, where our negotiated room rate is $229/night (plus taxes). Reservations can be made via this link or by calling 808-949-4321and asking for the Western Regional Science Association group rate. The hotel has agreed to honor our special room rate three days prior to and following our meeting dates (Mar 18th through Mar 21st), based on availability. 
Please note: after January 21, 2020, or as soon as our room block is full, the hotel will no longer honor our special room rate! Be sure to book early!

I’m also still looking for several students to assist with meeting registration in Hawaii. In exchange for 8-10 hours of volunteering at the registration desk, students will receive a complete rebate of their preregistration fees (worth $150, to be processed as a refund following the meeting). Contact me if you’re interested.

 

Call for Papers for WRSA & PRSCO Joint Meeting 2020: Special Sessions in Honor of Roger Stough

As you may know, eminent regional scientist Roger Stough died in September 2019. He was important to the Western Regional Science Association (WRSA) for many reasons. He was a long-time editor of our journal the Annals of Regional Science, a Fellow of the WRSA and served as President of the WRSA in 2002. We invite you to submit a paper to be considered for inclusion in one of our special sessions honoring Roger Stough.  

To identify your paper for consideration for the special sessions, please add the following line to your title page “Paper for consideration to be included in the Special Sessions honoring Roger Stough at the WRSA-PRSCO meetings March 18-21, 2020.”

The WRSA website for submission is now open (www.wrsaonline.org). Short abstracts, as well as full papers (also in draft format), will be accepted for the Special Session. Full papers benefit from the traditional WRSA 45-minute per paper time slot. Submissions with abstracts only will be allocated a shorter time block. The submission deadline is December 15, 2019, for full-length original papers or abstracts.

Please submit your paper directly to the WRSA website as an individual paper. Also email a second copy of your papers and abstracts to the session organizers, Janet Kohlhase (jkohlhase@uh.edu) and Haifeng Qian (haifeng-qian@uiowa.edu). Please put “WRSA Roger Stough special sessions” in the subject line of your email. If you have already submitted your paper or abstract through the WRSA online portal, please email a copy to the organizers noting your interest.

Selected papers from these sessions may be invited for publication in a special issue of the Annals of Regional Science, following standard review/revision procedures. Details about the special issue honoring Roger Stough will be forthcoming.

The abstracts/papers will be reviewed by the Organizing Committee and the notification of acceptance will be distributed by January 20, 2020.

Organizing committee:
For more information or questions please contact: Janet Kohlhase at the University of Houston (jkohlhase@uh.edu) or Haifeng Qian at the University of Iowa (haifeng-qian@uiowa.edu).

Areas of Interest
We are looking for academic papers that honor the work of Roger Stough. Authors may have ties with Roger or not. Former-students, co-authors, and colleagues are especially encouraged to participate. Topics are wide open in regional science, but as a guide consider that his research interests included entrepreneurship and innovation, science and technology policy, regional economic development, regional economic modeling, transport policy, and leadership and institutions.

For details, please click here.

Call for Papers for WRSA & PRSCO Joint Meeting 2020: Special Session on “Cultural and Creative Industries in Regional Science”

As part of the 26th Pacific Conference of the RSAI, to be held jointly with the 59th Annual Meeting of the WRSA in Waikiki, Hawaii from March 18 to 21, 2020, The Social Sciences Area of the Gran Sasso Science Institute (GSSI) is organizing a Special Session on Cultural and Creative Industries in Regional Science. The website for submission is now open (www.wrsaonline.org). Abstracts, as well as full papers (also in draft format), will be considered for inclusion in the Special Session. Full papers benefit from the traditional WRSA 45-minute per paper time slot. The submission deadline is November 15, 2019, for full-length original papers (not previously published). When submitting, remember to add that your paper is intended for the GSSI Special Session on Cultural and Creative Industries in Regional Science and, please, also remember to send a copy to Alessandro Crociata alessandro.crociata@gssi.it and Giulia Urso giulia.urso@gssi.it – Social Sciences, Gran Sasso Science Institute, L’Aquila (Italy)

Description of the Special Session

The potential contribution of Cultural and Creative Industries (CCIs) to economic growth is a topical issue attracting ever-increasing attention in many different arenas, academics and not. The prevailing policy discourse assumes a strong contribution of CCIs to growth in the whole economy, and that CCIs contribute significantly to youth employment and are more resilient to economic crises. Additionally, by operating at the crossroads between arts, business, and technology, CCIs are assumed to benefit other industries via spill-over effects. In the same way, CCIs create positive externalities on other areas of society, such as education, social inclusion, and community life.

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in culture-led development also in the field of regional science. The basic idea is that culture and creativity are key drivers of urban and regional development. Scholarly discussion is lively and articulated, with an insightful – and still open – debate on both theoretical issues and empirical evidence. This growing literature covers a range of multidimensional issues moving from the basic – yet questioned – assumption that the cultural and creative economy is a major force shaping knowledge-based economies, and that is conducive to sustainable regional development with more jobs created and greater social cohesion.

The aim of the special session is to attract contributions focusing on inclusive and sustainable growth led by CCIs. In that sense, the session welcomes contributions on:

  • Improving the understanding of CCIs through developing better and robust national and international level indicators measuring CCIs and their outputs 
  • Measuring the Cultural and Creative Spillovers and Crossovers 
  • Investigating the knowledge gaps in skills, education, training, and creativity and how to address these in the future to support the CCIs 
  • Investigating the impact of national and regional Smart Specialisation Strategies in enhancing the CCIs 
  • Exploring the barriers to and enablers of employment and growth in the CCIs 
  • Providing a new and encompassing framework to examine the role of the CCIs in supporting ‘inclusive and sustainable growth’ (intended not only as GDP but also as cultural development) 
  • Understanding the role of CCIs in fostering the development of small-medium towns and/or peripheral areas 
  • The geography of CCIs and their spatial pattern of production and consumption 
  • Providing policy recommendations to support regional, national and international policies in the field of CCIs. 

 

For details, please click here.

Call for Papers: Special Session on “Regional Science and Tourism” for WRSA & PRSCO Joint Meeting 2020

As part of the 26th Pacific Conference of the RSAI, to be held jointly with the 59th Annual Meeting of the WRSA in Waikiki, Hawaii from March 18 to 21, 2020, Nectar clusters 5 and 6 are organizing a Special Session on “Regional Science and Tourism”. 
Short abstracts, as well as full papers (also in draft format), will be accepted for the Special Session. Full papers benefit from the traditional WRSA 45-minute per paper time slot. The submission deadline is November 15, 2019, for full-length original papers (not previously published). 
During your submission, do not forget to add that your paper is submitted for the Nectar Special Session on Regional Science and Tourism. Please, also send a copy of the submission to Juan Carlos Martin, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, jcarlos.martin@ulpgc.es and Luca Zamparini, University of Salento, luca.zamparini@unisalento.it.
The abstracts/papers will be reviewed by the Organizing Committee and the notification of paper acceptance will be distributed by December 20, 2019.

Selected full papers will be invited for publication in a special issue of the Regional Science Policy & Practice Journal, following standard review/revision procedures. (https://rsaiconnect.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/17577802).

For details, please click here.

 

New at WRSA – Professional Development Sessions for Graduate Students & Early Career Faculty

The 2020 meeting in Hawaii will have one Professional Development session specially targeted to the graduate students & the early-career faculty.

  • Graduate students will learn about:
    • Where to find information to apply for faculty and post-doctoral positions
    • What and what not to do during a job interview
    • How to discuss the terms of a work contract
  • Early career faculty will learn about:
    • Applying for grants
    • Building a research team and mentoring students
    • Keeping good teaching evaluations

We are open to the possibility of having another session dedicated to rehearsing job talks and practicing mock job interviews as well as advice about improving CV and application letter. If you are interested in these activities, please contact Sandy Dall’erba (dallerba@illinois.edu) by January 5th.

In addition, the students will be able to participate in a Graduate Student Round Table Meeting designed to foster their national and international network and launch the WRSA student association.

Summer 2019 WRSA Newsletter for the Latest on Our 2020 Hawaii Meeting + Much More!

The Summer 2019 WRSA Newsletter is here and it’s got everything you need to know about our 59th annual meeting (a joint meeting with the 26th Pacific Regional Science Conference (PRSCO) of the RSAI) in Waikiki of Hawaii, March 2020! Take a look inside for paper submission and meeting registration instructions, as well as hotel reservation and Hawaii travel details.

Along with preliminary meeting information, the Newsletter contains a full rundown on our 58th Annual Meeting this past February in Napa, CA, including meeting highlights, awards, and a few photos.

Enjoy!

WRSA 2020 (Joint Meeting with PRSCO): Planning for Hawaii

For our 59th annual meeting, we’re heading to Waikiki of Hawaii for our joint meeting with the 26th Pacific Regional Science Conference (PRSCO) of the RSAI. 
Our meeting dates are March 18-21, 2020, with opening plenary and reception scheduled for the afternoon of Wednesday (Mar. 18), followed by three full days of sessions on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (Mar. 19-21).

Short abstracts, as well as full papers (draft format acceptable), will be accepted for this conference. Full papers benefit from the traditional WRSA 45-minute per paper time slot, while abstracts will be allocated shorter presentation times. All submissions will be reviewed and will be assigned a discussant on the program. All presenters are expected to discuss a paper and/or chair a session.

Our meeting hotel is the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki, Hawaii, which has the widest stretch of beach in Waikiki. Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki features 5 high-rise towers along with the beautiful Waikiki beach, 20 restaurants and lounges, plus a saltwater lagoon, 5 pools and a full-service spa. Our negotiated room rate is $229/night (plus taxes and fees) and “optional” resort fee will be optional that includes guest internet access (up to 2 devices), Hawaiian cultural activities, outdoor morning exercises, movies at Sundown, and etc. Parking is available with extra charges. See the “Hotel Information” link to the left for room reservation instructions.

Full meeting information will be available in the upcoming Spring/Summer Newsletter (be sure to renew your membership in order to receive!) and on the website. Check back in the weeks to come! 
The deadline for submission of full papers and abstracts is November 15, 2019!

WRSA Napa Valley: Final Meeting Program Released!

The final program for our upcoming annual meeting in Napa is now available. 
This is the updated final version, please read carefully to check the changes made.
Your assignments and session schedule may have changed.

Please click here to view the final program. 

WRSA Napa Valley: Preliminary Meeting Program!

The first version of the program for our upcoming meeting in Pasadena is now available here

This means the time to register for the meeting and book your hotel room is NOW. Full details are available on the website! Remember the deadline for hotel reservations and pre-registration is January 11!

Napa Valley Paper Submission Deadline Extended to November 18!

What a Surprise! It’s the traditional extension of the paper submission deadline for our annual meeting in Napa Valley, California, next February 10-13. As in past years, we will accept submissions until mid-November. This year’s FINAL deadline will be November 18. Be sure to get your paper submitted before then!

Ready to submit? There’s no reason to wait until the last minute. Simply visit the WRSA website and use the Login/Register link at the left to upload your paper and register for the meeting.

I’m also still looking for several students to assist with meeting registration in Pasadena. In exchange for 8-10 hours of volunteering at the registration desk, students will receive a complete rebate of their preregistration fees (worth $150, to be processed as a refund following the meeting).