R&D production in the United States: Rethinking the Snowbelt–Sunbelt shift

The Frostbelt–Sunbelt shift in the US, which is thought to have accelerated during the 1970s, corresponds with recent findings that invention and innovation in the Southern and Western parts of the country have come to rival the traditional manufacturing belt. Whether research and development (R&D), a key input to new technology, shows a similar pattern is the focus of this study. It is found, that there was a shift in R&D activity to the Sunbelt during some decades, but not all, and that the manufacturing belt has maintained a slight R&D lead in the country. Still, parts of the Sunbelt rivalled the Northeast for R&D already in 1963. Thus, any national shift in the location of R&D must have occurred prior to the 1960s and before it might be thought to have happened. In the US, R&D production associates well with places that have an educated, professional, and technically specialized labor force. Those states that continue to build on these and similar techno-societal conditions will arguably be in a better position to grow.