Are the problem spaces of economic actors increasingly virtual? What geo-located web activity might tell us about economic dynamism.

The principal questions this research will address are: 1) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to actual or nascent entrepreneurs is associated with higher rates of new firms births in an area; 2) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those working on design problems is associated with the quality of business in terms of orientations toward design or innovation; and 3) whether a higher propensity to visit websites of interest to those pursuing arts as an avocation is associated with an increased ability to find nonobvious solutions that might be manifest in business quality. The unique data that allow examining these questions were compiled from billions of web hits by geo-located devices. These data are combined with both detailed establishment level data with reliable information on the innovation and design orientation of firms, and a longitudinal census of all establishments with a formal credit relationship in the U.S. The findings confirm that businesses located in areas with a high propensity to visit design and arts avocation websites are more likely to pursue more far ranging innovation and are more likely to integrate design into their innovation processes. Firm birth rates are higher in areas with a high propensity to visit websites of interest to entrepreneurs, and the existence of high growth firms is strongly associated with demonstrated interest in design and arts avocation websites. The possible uses of these nontraditional measures as indicators of economic dynamism are discussed

Sources of Innovation and Innovation Type: Firm-Level Evidence from the United States

10.1093/icc/dtz010Industrial and Corporate Change2861365–137

The Index of Innovation: A New Tool for Regional Analysis

Attempts to create an index of innovation have focused almost exclusively on countries or states. These existing indices also weigh various drivers of innovation equally without regard to their relative effect on economic development. This article has two distinct parts. In Part I the authors develop an index of innovation at the county level. They describe the rationale for selecting innovation measures based on the literature. This section goes into detail about measures and data. Part II statistically analyzes the data for all U.S. counties to assess the relative importance of the innovation factors on GDP-per-worker growth. The researchers also investigate whether the relative importance of the drivers of innovation differ depending on county scale and other characteristics that are often used to differentiate rural from urban. Initial analysis suggests that innovation influences can vary depending on the size of the county and the rural-urban divide.economic growth; innovation; U.S. counties; regional analysis