We construct the first estimates of U.S. county nominal and real GDP by broadly defined industrial sectors from 1870 to 2018. Counties tended to converge from 1870 until 1970, but subsequently grew apart. Falling inequality between states explains most of the fall in county inequality from 1870...

New knowledge in the form of products, processes and organizations leads to opportunities that can be exploited commercially. However, converting new ideas into economic growth requires turning new knowledge into economic knowledge that constitutes a commercial opportunity. Acs, Audretsch,...