Professor Paul Krugman was awarded the Nobel prize in Economics in 2008 for his analysis of trade patterns and location of economic activity. He is professor of economics and international affairs at Princeton University, Centenary Professor at the London School of Economics and a columnist for the New York Times. His research has had great impact on both economic policies as well as regional policies worldwide.
– Paul Krugman is one of the greatest names in regional science. We are very honoured that both he and other internationally known researchers are attending the congress, says Hans Westlund, Professor in Entrepreneurship at JIBS and in charge of arranging the congress.
Professor Fabrizio Barca is internationally recognised for The Barca Report – an agenda for a reformed Cohesion Policy in which he presents development policies for the EU. Professor Barca is Director General of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. Previously, he was division chief at the Research Department of the Bank of Italy and he has had appointments at different Italian universities.
Professor Philip McCann is advisor for the European Commission and works together with Professor Barca. Professor McCann is one of the most well known scientists in economic geography. He is Professor of Economics at the University of Groningen, Holland and he has formerly worked at the University of Waikato, New Zeeland and the University of Reading, England.
Professor AnnaLee Saxenian is known for her research within technology clusters and is the world expert on social networks in the Silicon Valley. In her latest book, “The New Argonauts”, she presents a theory on “brain circulation”. Professor Saxenian is Dean and Professor at the School of Information and professor at the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley. In the past she has worked for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This assembly is the 50th Anniversary of the ERSA (European Regional Science Association) congress. ERSA has some 3 500 members, both academics, policy professionals and researchers interested, in 17 active associations across Europe. ERSA is one of the 3 supra-regional associations of RSAI (Regional Science Association International).
