This paper advances the understanding of foreign direct investment (FDI)—that is to say, the U.S operations of foreign companies—in U.S. metro areas in three ways. First, it provides a framing of what FDI is and why it matters for the United States and its regions. Then it presents new data on jobs in foreign-owned establishments (FOEs) across the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas between 1991 and 2011. It concludes with a discussion of what policymakers and practitioners can do to maximize the amount, quality, and economic benefits of FDI into the United States.

Benchmarking the Rhode Island Knowledge Economy is a compilation of twenty-three different indicators measuring Rhode Island’s capacity and progress toward competing in a knowledge-driven and science and technology based economy. The indicators are organized into four categories representing key components of a knowledge-based economy: Rhode Island’s Knowledge Economy, The Knowledge Business Pipeline, Research and Development, and The Workforce for the Knowledge Economy.

The Kennebec Valley Economic Development District 's Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) covering the five year period from 2013 through 2017 incorporates the region’s vision for a robust economy. For the first time the CEDS adopts an asset-based strategy to promote economic growth, to expand prosperity, and to foster both a resilient and sustainable regional economy. It incorporates the goals and performance benchmarks established by the Leadership Team of the Mobilize Maine/Kennebec Valley program in 2012.

Why do investments in certain places yield jobs, growth, and prosperity while similar investments made in seemingly identical places fail to produce the desired results? Starting with the observation that innovation clusters spatially across a broad spectrum of industries, my work seeks to understand the mechanisms and institutions that promote the creation of useful knowledge.

In the 20 years since the North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect, Mexico has become a global manufacturing leader and a prime destination for investors and multinationals around the world. Yet the country’s economic growth continues to disappoint, and the rise in living standards has stalled. The root cause is a chronic productivity problem that stems from the economy’s two-speed nature.

Cluster theory and its application and cluster-based economic development policy, have been in the forefront of regional economic development theory and practice during the past decade. Cluster theory suggests that firms that are part of a geographically defined cluster benefit from being a part of that cluster and that these benefits result in growth in economic output for the region. It is important for policy makers and practitioners to understand how and in what ways they do so and what actions they can take to enhance economic growth through generating additional cluster benefits.

This paper takes a close look at the reasons, procedures, and results of cluster identification methods. Despite being a popular research topic in strategy, economics, and sociology, geographic clusters are often studied with little consideration given to the underlying economic activities, the unique cluster boundaries, or the appropriate benchmark of economic concentration. Our goal is to increase awareness of the complexities behind cluster identification, and to provide concrete insights and methodologies applicable to various empirical settings.

America’s research capabilities, entrepreneurial spirit and industrial prowess are poised to be focused and, in many cases, repurposed to realize the economic and employment returns many innovative technologies promise. However, if we are to be successful in assuring that all Americans share in this success, we need to expand the ability of many more locales to leverage their centers of basic research and related public and private R&D enterprises to enhance regional economic growth and competitiveness.

Over the last 30 years, researchers across the country have been documenting the shifts in university policies and practices enabled in no small part by the Bayh-Dole legislation of the mid-1980s, and the establishment and growth of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. These major shifts in national policy created an environment in which universities were free to manage their IP in ways that would support knowledge transfer as well as commercialization of new companies, along with an increased availability of private sector risk capital to support promising start ups.

The global economic landscape has changed dramatically during the past several years. The number of regions around the world that have the skills and capabilities to compete in science and technology-based industries has grown, offering leading companies numerous options for where they locate facilities or source their products.