Some Aspects of the Influence of Scientific and Technical Progress on the Formation of Economic Regions (with particular reference to the United States)

The concentration of research and development in the San Francisco Bay area is found to have attracted related aerospace and electronics industries, thus giving rise to a new type of economic region focused on research activities. The atomic and aerospace industry of New Mexico arose because of the need of having manufacturing facilities near testing grounds and missile ranges in desert areas, but is virtually unrelated to the rest of the New Mexico economy. Industries not dominated by any particular locational factor are being attracted to the dry subtropics of the United States, where the provision of water supplies and refrigeration and air-conditioning produces attractive living conditions for a skilled labor force. Advances in computer technology and electrical communications facilitate centralized industrial management and thus affect plant location.