NARSC Update

The final program for NARSC is now available on the website. Be sure and

review the program carefully, as several sessions have changed time slots.

Note that there may still be minor changes, but the live program can be viewed here.

There will be NO printed programs available.

•  Please stick to the printed program schedule. Each session has a specific time slot assigned to presentations. If there is a no-show, use the time to discuss previous papers or take a break. Do not rearrange papers to fill gaps in the schedule, as attendees may have specific interests in particular papers.

•  Each breakout room will be equipped with a projector. The Session Chair is responsible for bringing laptop computers to use by all session presenters. If you are a Session Chair and unable to bring a laptop, kindly communicate with other session participants to ensure that someone in the session brings a laptop. Please note that NARSC will not provide laptops for use in individual sessions.

•  NARSC will have adapters for Apple products at the registration desk, but you must bring your projector adapter.

•  Presenters should save presentations in both PowerPoint and PDF formats. Emailing a copy to themselves ensures a backup.

•  Most sessions have 4 papers. Each paper should be given 30 minutes in total (20-minute presentation, 5-minute discussion, and 5-minute Q&As). If your session has 3 or 5 papers, make sure to distribute the time accordingly.

•  Hold everyone to the time allotted. If a speaker continues after time has expired, rise, ask those present to join you in thanking the speaker, and announce the next presentation. The audience and other speakers will support your decision.

•  Please be considerate of the next session by ensuring your session is completed at the appropriate time, and the meeting room is vacated in time for the next session.

•   Each paper is assigned a discussant to review and offer constructive comments on the paper. There is one discussant for each paper. The discussants for each session are listed in the program in sequential order. The first discussant listed is responsible for discussing the first paper presented; the second discussant listed is responsible for discussing the second paper presented, etc. Some sessions may have allocated their discussants differently.

•  The discussant should come prepared to provide approximately 5 minutes of discussion of the paper. Possible speaking points include its merits and questions’ regarding methods, data, or findings – a summary of the paper is neither expected nor appropriate. As a presenter, we ask that you share your paper (or slides). with your discussant as early as possible so that the discussant has sufficient time to review it.

There is still time to register for some workshops at this year's conference (see below).

Come take advantage of additional learning opportunities while attending the conference. 

All workshops will take place on November 11, 2026 at the host hotel of the NARSC 2026 Conference. You may register for the conference without attending the conference.

Register for any of the workshops HERE. 

IMPLAN Workshop at NARSC Conference

Join IMPLAN's education services team for a hands-on workshop designed to help regional scientists, economists, and analysts build rigorous, defensible economic analyses using IMPLAN's input-output modeling platform — from first principles to finished results.

• Understanding IMPLAN Methodology & Data The input-output framework behind IMPLAN, and the data sources and structure that power every model.
• Common Studies with IMPLAN Real-world applications — economic impact, contribution, and tax analyses across industries and regions.
• Extracting IMPLAN Data Practical techniques for pulling the data you need out of IMPLAN for your own research and reporting.
• Navigating IMPLAN Results How to extract the most from your IMPLAN results.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND?

Regional scientists, economists, planners, and graduate students — whether you're new to IMPLAN or looking to sharpen your skills for more rigorous, publication-ready analysis.

All levels welcome, whether you’ve just heard of IMPLAN or you’re already publishing IMPLAN papers.

The workshop will take place on November 11, 2026 at the host hotel of the NARSC 2026 Conference. You may register for the conference without attending the conference.

Register for the workshop HERE. 

PySAL Workshop at NARSC Conference

A unique feature of this tutorial is the use of Python based software tools for spatial data analysis and spatial econometrics. Python is an object-oriented scripting language that is gaining rapid adoption in the computational sciences. Since its initial release in July 2010, PySAL has been downloaded over 1.7 million times. This two-part tutorial will first provide participants with an introduction to Python and related tools for exploratory spatial data analysis. In the second part of the tutorial the focus is on spatial econometric methods in PySAL.

Objectives

This tutorial will offer participants the following:

• Introduction to Python for spatial data and regional analysis

• Introduction to PySAL for exploratory spatial data analysis

• Introduction the PySAL for spatial econometric modeling

The workshop will take place on November 11, 2026 at the host hotel of the NARSC 2026 Conference. You may register for the conference without attending the conference.

Register for the workshop HERE. 

CGE Workshop at NARSC Conference

This one-day workshop introduces the participants to TERM-USA, a multi-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) economic model of the United States and provides practical experience in conducting model simulations. TERM-USA captures the behavior of economic agents in US regions linked by

interrergional trade and factor flows. It is a powerful tool for analysing a wide range of issues facing US regions. TERM-USA is implemented using RunGEM, a Windows program that makes it easy for users to run the model. The  workshop overviews the main characteristics of TERM-USA and its data base, and demonstrates the model’s capabilities in analyzing some typical regional issues, such as the regional impacts of a major industrial project, a new fiscal policy, regional development policies, among many others. A particular feature of the workshop will be hands-on computer exercises with CRunGEM to provide workshop participants with experience in conducting a range of typical simulations.

Objectives

To provide workshop participants with the following:

1. An introduction to regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) modeling

2. A description of the TERM-USA economic model of the United States with 64 sectors, 70 regions and 12 occupations

3. Hands-on computing experience of running TERM-USA simulations with the CRunGEM software

4. Experience in using CRunGEM facilities for checking and interpreting results.

The workshop will take place on November 11, 2026 at the host hotel of the NARSC 2026 Conference. You may register for the conference without attending the conference.

Register for the workshop HERE. 

The conference will be held at the Sheraton Philadelphia Downtown (201 North 17th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103). A special conference room rate of $239 (plus taxes) has been negotiated with the hotel. Please consider staying at the host hotel. Staying at the Sheraton helps NARSC continue to hold these meetings. NARSC is penalized when attendees do not stay at the hotel. Also, book the conference hotel through the NARSC website to make sure NARSC gets credit for your booking. The link to book your hotel room is below.

NOTE: The hotel is sold out for November 13.

Book your group rate for North American Regional Science Council (NARSC) Annual Meeting Nov 2026

Position Openings

Be sure and to check out the position openings on our website. You may find your next position!

Thanks to the NARSC 2026 Sponsors