Local Political Economy Conference, APSA 2026

We are very excited to welcome people to the 2026 Local Political Economy pre-Conference.  We will be meeting on the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) campus from 10am-7pm on Wednesday, September 2nd. Please let us know if you'd like to attend by filling out the brief RSVP form. Please feel free to share the invite with anyone you think would be interested in joining us, but tell them to RSVP so we have sufficient refreshments. Email us (Jessica Trounstine, Mirya Holman, Justin de Benedictis-Kessner, Maxwell Palmer, Katherine Levine Einstein, David Glick) if you have questions.

Location:

• Harvard Kennedy School Taubman Building, 5th floor
• Street address: 15 Eliot St, Cambridge, MA 02138
• All panel sessions will take place in the Nye conference room on the 5th floor of the Taubman Building
• Reception and poster session will take place in the Bloomberg Center for Cities on the 3rd floor of the Taubman Building

Entry

All visitors must enter via the Wexner Building entrance at the back of the HKS courtyard (red arrows below). The Wexner entrance is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. You must present a photo ID to the security desk to be granted entry. Signage will direct you to the Nye Conference Center on the Taubman Building 5th floor. The Belfer and Taubman entrances to HKS are currently closed to visitors, but Harvard affiliates may scan a Harvard ID to enter via the Taubman entrance.

Transportation:

There are several transportation options from the main conference area.

1. The MBTA (the "T"). You can take a variety of buses and/or trains depending on where you are staying, but if you are staying in the main conference area in Back Bay you can take the #1 bus along Massachusetts Avenue northbound (towards Harvard Square) or the Green Line inbound to Park Street, where you can transfer to the Red Line towards Alewife and get off at Harvard Square. You can pay by credit card or phone by tapping your card/phone against the machine on board buses or at the fare gates in train stations.
2. Bikeshare (BlueBikes): you can purchase a day pass or a one-ride pass at any docking station kiosk or via the BlueBikes smartphone app. There is a docking station directly outside the Taubman Building as well as several others in Harvard Square.
3. You can take an Uber/Lyft from the conference area (15-25 minutes depending on traffic). Direct ride-hail vehicles to 15 Eliot St.
4. The Harvard Square Parking Garage or the Charles Square Garage in the Charles Hotel are next to HKS

Schedule:

LPEC 2026 will take place on Wednesday, September 2. Papers will be posted here on August 26th (presenters, please email your papers to Justin)

Presentations should be ~12 minutes, with the rest of each time slot dedicated to the discussant (5-10 minutes) and Q&A with the audience in order to maximize feedback.

Posters will be set up in the reception area (Taubman building 3rd floor) during our evening reception. Discussants for posters will talk to their poster presenters during this reception, and people will be able to view them throughout the reception.