5th Conference on Spatial Economics

2026 Annual Program

Conference Details
Date: September 11–12, 2026
Location: UCLA Anderson, Grand Salon (Marion Anderson Hall)
Attendance is by invitation

Organizers
Paper selection:
Thomas Chaney, Pablo Fajgelbaum, Eduardo Morales, Stephen Redding, Esteban Rossi-Hansberg
Local Organizers:
Pablo Fajgelbaum, Gregor Schubert

Supported By
  • UCLA Economics
  • Luskin Endowment
  • USC Economics
  • UCLA Ziman Center
(*) indicates presenter

Friday, September 11, 2026
8:00–8:30am
Breakfast
8:30–9:40am
Revisiting the Fertility Puzzle: A Dynamic Spatial Equilibrium Approach
Costas Arkolakis, Yale University & NBER (*)
Jun Hee Kwak, Sogang University
Jaemin Woo, Brown University
Hyunjoo Yang, Sogang University
9:40–10:00am
Break
10:00–11:10am
Foreign Opportunity and Local Revival: Evidence from the French Rust Belt
Antoine Levy, UC Berkeley Haas
Mathilde Muñoz, UC Berkeley, CEPR and NBER (*)
11:10–11:30am
Break
11:30am–12:40pm
Quantifying Aggregate Impacts in the Presence of Spillovers
Dave Donaldson, MIT (*)
Federico Huneeus, Duke University & Central Bank of Chile
Vincent Rollet, MIT
12:40–1:50pm
Lunch
1:50–3:00pm
Aggregate Welfare with Discrete Choice Across Places and Jobs
David R. Baqaee, UCLA (*)
Ariel Burstein, UCLA
3:00–3:20pm
Break
3:20–4:30pm
Climate Risk in Dynamic Spatial Equilibrium
Adrien Bilal, Stanford University (*)
Santiago Franco, Boston University
Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, University of Chicago
4:30–4:50pm
Break
4:50–6:00pm
City buzz: Face-to-face interactions and the urban environment
Javier Alonso, CEMFI
Daniel Arribas-Bel, University of Liverpool
Alba Miñano-Mañero, Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Souneil Park, NielsenIQ
Diego Puga, CEMFI (*)
6:30pm onwards
Dinner (by invitation)

Saturday, September 12, 2026
8:00–8:30am
Breakfast
8:30–9:40am
Choices or Constraints? Disentangling Preferences from Restrictions in Housing Markets
Milena Almagro, Chicago Booth & NBER (*)
Aradhya Sood, University of Toronto
9:40–10:00am
Break
10:00–11:10am
Evicted from Opportunity: Labor Market Effects of Housing Loss in High-Productivity Cities
Brian Asquith, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
Kate Pennington, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau
Charly Porcher, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University (*)
11:10–11:30am
Break
11:30am–12:40pm
Whose Tree Is It Anyway? Property Rights and Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon
Rodrigo Adão, University of Chicago
Arthur Bragança, World Bank
Jonathan I. Dingel, Columbia University (*)
Esteban Rossi-Hansberg, University of Chicago
12:40–2:00pm
Lunch and adjourn