ABSTRACT
The literature on inventive factors is substantial and diverse, but six principal stimulants appear to dominate discussion: agglomeration economies, human capital, producer services, investment in information technology, federal funding, and invention-derived knowledge. As a locus of invention, the Sunbelt was a minor one relative to the Northeast and Midwest, but the Sunbelt's patent performance during the postwar era allowed it to overtake both the Northeast and Midwest as the main locus for invention patents. The incubating and hosting of new rounds of innovation spawned by flows of federally funded R&D can be interpreted to mean that such flows may enhance the innovation potential of the region. Agglomeration economies are important for innovation diffusion since agglomeration economies for people attract the innovating elite while agglomeration economies for businesses attract the firms, research and development institutions and other corporations that may increase a region's capacity to absorb innovations.
