Nomination deadline coming up, July 31!
The William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science

The William Alonso Memorial Prize for Innovative Work in Regional Science was established in 1999 to honor the memory of a revered, pioneering scholar. In 1960 William Alonso was awarded the first Ph.D. in Regional Science by the University of Pennsylvania. The book based on his dissertation, Location and Land Use (Harvard University Press, 1964), is often credited with launching the field of urban economics. He made numerous major contributions to the study of migration, regional development, and the politics of numbers, and his work ranged from meticulous mathematical theory to far-ranging think pieces. William Alonso was Assistant and Associate Professor of Regional Planning at Harvard University (1959-67), Professor of Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley (1966-76), and Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Policy at Harvard (1976-99).

The objective of the Prize is to recognize the recent innovative research contribution of Regional Science scholars in the spirit of Dr. William Alonso. Previous Prize Winners are:

2002    Masahisa Fujita and Paul Krugman, The Spatial Economy (MIT Press, 1999)
2004    Jacques-François Thisse, Economics of Agglomeration (Cambridge University                   Press, 2002)
2006    Luc Anselin, Local Indicators of Spatial Association (Geographical Analysis,                   1995)
            Ann Markusen, Sticky Places in Slippery Space (Economic Geography, 1996)
2011    Michael Batty, Cities and Complexity (MIT Press, 2007)
2013    Robert Sampson, Great American City (University of Chicago Press, 2012)

The next prize, the 2017 Prize, is scheduled to be announced in 2016 at the North American Meetings in Minneapolis.

Nominations for the 2017 prize to be announced in 2016 are invited by the Alonso Prize Committee. They may come from any individual or organization including book publishers, university departments, government agencies, and other public or private entities. Each organizations is limited to make two nominations for each occasion. The deadline for nominations is July 31, 2016.

• The nominated work must be a book published in 2011 or later. An edited book will be considered only if it is tightly-integrated, not a loose collection of chapters.
• The nominated work may have single or multiple authors.
• Authors are encouraged to self-nominate, and jurors will not know which books were self-nominated.
• Previously nominated books may be re-nominated and will be considered anew.
• Six copies of the book must be received by the deadline. Please send books to Neil Reid, Department of Geography and Planning, Mail Stop 140, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio 43606
• To nominate a book (1) send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.with citation information, such as William Alonso, Location and Land Use, Harvard University Press, 1964, (2) attach up to three published book reviews, if available, using pdf files, and (3) arrange for the six copies to be sent, usually by the author or publisher. No letters of nomination or support are required, and, if provided, will not be sent to jurors. The selection criteria are innovation and expected impact.

Although occasionally awarded to an article, the Alonso Prize is primarily a book prize. A book’s key idea might have been presented first in a journal article, such as Alonso’s “A Theory of the Urban Land Market,” Papers of the Regional Science Association, 1960, but its fuller development and synthesis with other work can make the book innovative and eligible for the Prize.

Members of the Prize Committee include:
Professor David Plane, Chair, University of Arizona, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Professor Kyung-Hwan Kim, Sogan University, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Professor Janet Kohlhase, University of Houston, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Professor Philip McCann, University of Groningen, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Professor Emeritus, Gordon Mulligan, University of Arizona, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear friends and colleagues,

Apologies again for cross-posting!

Some weeks ago I forwarded you a call for papers for a workshop on the topic of innovation, networks, and geography, to be held in Barcelona at the end of October this year, in which I am involved as part of the scientific committee.

They are sending a reminder, and as I told you back then, I would love if you can join us for the workshop.

So consider applying and please help us diffusing this call among your friends and colleagues who might be interested.

I look forward to see you in Barcelona soon!

All the best,

Ernest Miguelez 

RSAI has the great pleasure to announce that the jury consisting of Antoine Bailly, Masahisa Fujita, Roberta Capello and Erik Verhoef  chose the article "Fiscal decentralization and regional disparities: The importance of good governance" by Andreas P. Kyriacou, Leonel Muinelo-Gallo, Oriol Roca-Sagalés,  published in Volume 94, Issue 1, Marh 2015, Pages: 89-108 as the winner of the Martin Beckmann Prize as the best paper published in Papers in Regional Science in 2015.

Motivation:

The paper deals with the measurement of the role of government quality in mediating the relationship between fiscal decentralization and regional disparities. The paper, based on evidence from a sample of 24 OECD countries over the period 1984 to 2006, provides support to the idea that fiscal decentralization has the potential to reduce income differences across regions but that this potential may not be realized because of governance problems associated with sub-national authorities. Based on the originality of the interest in the topic, and the important results achieved, the jury concluded that the paper was the best published one in 2015.

Many congratulations to Andreas P. Kyriacou, Leonel Muinelo-Gallo and Oriol Roca-Sagalés!

Journal of Housing Economics

Special Issue on research related to 'Race and the City'

This special issue will feature research that sheds light on the experiences of minorities in U.S. cities and metropolitan areas.  Given the long history of racial segregation and discrimination that African-Americans have faced in the U.S., we expect that many of the submissions will focus on the experiences of African-Americans in U.S. cities. However, we are also very interested in submissions that examine Latino and Asian populations, especially given the increasing urbanization of Latinos within the U.S. in recent decades. While our own research focuses on contemporary issues, we are open to historical analyses, especially ones that shed light on contemporary discussions and debates. Finally, we also welcome studies that examine the experiences of minority groups in cities and metropolitan areas in other developed, higher income countries around the world.

Papers must be of sufficient analytical rigor to meet the customary standards of the journal. Timeliness is very important, as the editors and the journal seek to limit delays between the acceptance of manuscripts and eventual publication. Submissions should be made before January 31^st, 2017 to 

http://www.evise.com/evise/faces/pages/navigation/NavController.jspx?JRNL_ACR=JHEC

To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion into the special issue, authors must select the name of the special issue “SI: Race and the City” when they upload their manuscripts. Early submissions will be dealt with promptly.

Special editors are Ingrid Gould Ellen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Steve Ross (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Call for Applications

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

THE BENJAMIN H. STEVENS 2017-2018 GRADUATE FELLOWSHIP IN REGIONAL SCIENCE

Graduate students enrolled in Ph.D. programs in North America are encouraged to apply for the Seventeenth Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science, administered by the North American Regional Science Council of the Regional Science Association International (NARSC-RSAI). This Fellowship, in support of thesis research in Regional Science, is awarded annually in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend had a profound impact on the field. Regional Science is a multidisciplinary field concerned with the theory and method of urban and regional phenomena. Regional Scientists apply theoretical and empirical frameworks and methods of the social and other sciences, as well as develop new ones specifically for regional analysis and policy.

Eligible students should have completed all degree requirements except for their dissertation by the time the Fellowship commences. A requirement of the Fellowship is that the recipient has no duties other than dissertation research during the Fellowship, although the recipient may hold other fellowships concurrently. Applications from students working in any area or any Ph.D. program are welcome as long as their dissertation research addresses a research question in Regional Science.

The Fellowship consists of a stipend in the amount of $30,000 (U.S.), paid over a twelve-month period. Applications for the 2017-2018 Fellowship should be sent electronically by the applicant to the Selection Committee Chair, Professor Elena Irwin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., and received by February 15, 2017. An application consists of the following materials:

1. A curriculum vita of no more than two (2) pages in length.

2. A statement in ten (10) pages or less explaining the questions and issues to be addressed, the approach to be used, and the product expected from the thesis research, preceded by a summary (1-page maximum) describing the intellectual merit of the proposed research, and the broader impacts that may result. The 10-page limit is inclusive of references, but exclusive of tables and figures. This text should be in 12 point or larger font, double-spaced, with one-inch margins; references may be single-spaced.

3. Copies of the candidate’s transcripts for all graduate study. Unofficial copies are acceptable.

In addition, the thesis supervisor shall provide a confidential letter sent separately as an attachment from her/his email account with the student’s name in the subject line to Professor Elena Irwin. In the letter the supervisor should assess the quality and significance of the proposed dissertation research, specify the current state of progress toward the candidate’s degree and provide a commitment by the thesis supervisor to obtain a tuition waiver for the candidate for the year of the Fellowship. A condition of the Fellowship is the granting of a tuition waiver for the year of the Fellowship by the university, or equivalent payment of the student’s tuition.

Applications should be emailed to Professor Elena Irwin at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Questions may also be sent to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. For information about NARSC, go to www.narsc.org/newsite/. For information about RSAI, go to www.rsai.org.

July 15, 2016

Nick Tsivanidis, a Ph.D. candidate in economics at the University of Chicago, was selected as the winner of the Sixteenth Annual Benjamin H. Stevens Graduate Fellowship in Regional Science. The Fellowship will provide a one-year stipend of $30,000 to support Nick Tsivanidisin his research entitled, ‘Commuting Technologies, City Structure and Urban Inequality: Evidence from Bogotá’s TransMilenio.’ This research will estimate the impact of a novel bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Bogotá, Colombia – TransMilenio – in reducing congestion costs along two margins. First, what was the total effect of TransMilenio on city productivity and welfare? Second, to what extent did the system disproportionately benefit the urban poor, by reducing their commuting time and improving their access to jobs? Since the poor rely on public transit while the rich drive cars, TransMilenio may have had both important aggregate and distributional effects for Bogotanos. Tsivanidis’s research is supervised by Professor Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago.

The Fellowship is awarded in memory of Dr. Benjamin H. Stevens, an intellectual leader whose selfless devotion to graduate students as teacher, advisor, mentor, and friend continues to have a profound impact on the field of regional science. Fundraising efforts to increase the Fellowship’s endowment are ongoing. Donations should be sent to: The Stevens Fellowship Fund, First Financial Bank, 1205 S. Neil Street, Champaign, IL 61820 USA. Checks should be drawn to The Stevens Fellowship Fund. Donations may also be made by credit card through the NARSC website at www.narsc.org/newsite/donations2.php.

The 2016-17 Stevens Fellowship competition was judged by a Selection Committee composed of: Laurie Schintler, Public Policy, George Mason University, Chair; Nathaniel Baum-Snow, Economics, Brown University;Elena Irwin, Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University; Mario Polèse, Urban and Regional Economics, Université du Québec; and Amanda Weinstein, Economics, The University of Akron. The Stevens Fellowship Committee administrates the Stevens Fellowship Fund on behalf of the North American Regional Science Council; its members are: Tony Smith, Chair; David Plane, Secretary; Michael Lahr, Treasurer; Janet Kohlhase; and Neil Reid, Executive Director of NARSC.

The Committee thanks the thirty students who entered the competition in 2016, as well as their dissertation supervisors. Faculty at all North American Ph.D. programs related to the interdisciplinary field of Regional Science are urged to encourage their best students to apply for the Seventeenth Annual Stevens Graduate Regional Science Fellowship. The winning student’s dissertation research in the field of Regional Science will be supported during the 2017-2018 year with a one-year stipend of $30,000. The application deadline is February 15, 2017. Full submission guidelines will be posted at www.narsc.org/newsite/awards-prizes/stevens-graduate-fellowship/.

June 2016

1)      Call for Submissions

Journal of Housing Economics

Special Issue on research related to 'Race and the City'

This special issue will feature research that sheds light on the experiences of minorities in U.S. cities and metropolitan areas.  Given the long history of racial segregation and discrimination that African-Americans have faced in the U.S., we expect that many of the submissions will focus on the experiences of African-Americans in U.S. cities. However, we are also very interested in submissions that examine Latino and Asian populations, especially given the increasing urbanization of Latinos within the U.S. in recent decades. While our own research focuses on contemporary issues, we are open to historical analyses, especially ones that shed light on contemporary discussions and debates. Finally, we also welcome studies that examine the experiences of minority groups in cities and metropolitan areas in other developed, higher income countries around the world.

Papers must be of sufficient analytical rigor to meet the customary standards of the journal. Timeliness is very important, as the editors and the journal seek to limit delays between the acceptance of manuscripts and eventual publication. Submissions should be made before January 31st, 2017 to

http://www.evise.com/evise/faces/pages/navigation/NavController.jspx?JRNL_ACR=JHEC

To ensure that all manuscripts are correctly identified for inclusion into the special issue, authors must select the name of the special issue “SI: Race and the City” when they upload their manuscripts. Early submissions will be dealt with promptly.

Special editors are Ingrid Gould Ellen (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and Steve Ross (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

2)      Call for Submissions

Journal of Economic Development in Higher Education

The Journal of Economic Development in Higher Education is the journal of the University Economic Development Association

The Journal of Economic Development in Higher Education is an online, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the study of university-led economic development. The Journal examines ways in which institutions of higher education foster competitiveness through human capital formation; research and innovation; and quality-of-place strategies that make communities attractive places to live, work, operate businesses, and raise families.

Submissions for Publication:

The Journal encourages articles on new frameworks, theories, or concepts; data-driven research articles; program evaluations; qualitative or quantitative case studies that highlight or analyze the role played by institutions of higher education  and/or opinion pieces in:

•             Promoting economic development, innovation, and entrepreneurship, especially through interdisciplinary initiatives and public-private partnerships;

•             Improving the impact, reach, and applicability of the institution’s research—and improving the impact and reach of other strategic niches of expertise—to enhance institutional and regional competitiveness;

•             Applying basic and applied research to solve an industry’s—or the region’s—most pressing challenges;

•             Leveraging institutional research and other resources to accelerate business formation and growth, develop new products and services, and/or link local businesses to the global economy through foreign investment or trade;

• Engaging and linking elements of their region’s innovation ecosystem;
• Developing and implementing solutions to their region’s human capital and workforce needs;
• Facilitating access by various constituents to information or institutional resources;
• Stewardship for vibrant regions:
  • Innovative economies,
  • Livable communities,
  • Social inclusion, and
  • Collaborative governance

The journal also seeks submissions addressing the theoretical underpinnings on exactly why and how university-led economic development benefits society.

Further information about submitting a manuscript, including author guidelines can be found on the journal website: http://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/jedhe/index.  Questions about potential submissions should be directed to Brian Richard, JEDHE Editor (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.).

Very interesting course led by the University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia, and IUAV, Italy. Courses are held in Venice for a 4 month period. They issue the title of II Level Master, 60 ETCS, but also the PhD, 180 ECTS.

http://www.ung.si/en/study/graduate-school/study/8AR/

http://www.iuav.it/Didattica1/master/PARTENARIA/ETCAEH/index.htm