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Geographical patterns in US inventive activity 1977–1998: The “regional inversion” was underestimated

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  • Castaldi, Carolina
  • Los, Bart

Abstract

Towards the end of the previous century, the geography of US inventive activity changed drastically. The old hotbeds of invention (the Northeast and Midwest) lost much of their prominence, and rates of invention in Western states grew considerably. In this paper, we argue that this well-known “regional inversion” has been underestimated. We arrive at this conclusion by addressing an important concern regarding the use of raw patent counts in the previous literature: raw patent counts do not tell much about inventive performance, since the importance of patents in terms of their impact on future technological and economic developments varies much. We focus on “superstar” patents, which are disproportionally important. We identify these employing a statistical regularity in citation patterns. We find that the West did not only outpace the Northeast and Midwest in the numbers of patents produced, but also specialized much more in patents that “really matter”.

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  • Castaldi, Carolina & Los, Bart, 2017. "Geographical patterns in US inventive activity 1977–1998: The “regional inversion” was underestimated," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(7), pages 1187-1197.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:respol:v:46:y:2017:i:7:p:1187-1197
    DOI: 10.1016/j.respol.2017.04.005
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    Cited by:

    1. Lars Mewes, 2018. "Scaling of Atypical Knowledge Combinations in American Metropolitan Areas from 1836 to 2010," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 1841, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Nov 2018.
    2. Ron Boschma & Ernest Miguelez & Rosina Moreno & Diego B. Ocampo-Corrales, 2021. "Technological breakthroughs in European regions: the role of related and unrelated combinations," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2118, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Jun 2021.
    3. Carolina Castaldi, 2024. "The geography of urban innovation beyond patents only: New evidence on large and secondary cities in the United States," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 61(7), pages 1248-1272, May.

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