Sutter, Ryan2010-05-11NO_RESTRIC2010-05-112010-05-11https://hdl.handle.net/1920/5807Theories of economic growth have long recognized that the majority of growth results from endogenous changes in technology that emerge from the profit motivated development of new knowledge. However, recent theorizing has suggested that the creation of knowledge in and of itself does not directly or immediately translate into changes in technological productivity as it must first be actively converted from concept into means of production. These developments have lead to spatially interdependent models of economic growth that are based not only on the development of knowledge but also on the commercialization and diffusion of it. This dissertation seeks to empirically examine some of the key propositions of these new theoretical models. Specifically, the relationship between productivity and entrepreneurship will be scrutinized with respect to the technological frontier. As well, the concept of regional psychological capital will be probed as an explanation for the proclivity of entrepreneurial activity in certain regions.en-USEntrepreneurshipRegional economic developmentBayeseanSpatial econometricsDissertation