This article, based on the inaugural Andrew Isserman lecture, explores whether regional science has lived up to its founder’s aspirations to create an interdisciplinary and international field to tackle key societal problems with reasoning, evidence, and sound policy recommendations. I...

Commitment to regional policy analysis and counsel has long been a hallmark of leadership in regional science. In this article, the author traces the rise and disillusionment with development economics and its concern with backward regions, the emergence of deindustrialization as a regional...