I'm often asked to speak about economic development in Arkansas. There was a time when my speeches focused on northwest Arkansas and how that region's economy was carrying the rest of the state. I no longer have to do that, since exciting initiatives are taking place in other parts of the state.

That's not to imply things have slowed down in northwest Arkansas. They've sped up. I recently wrote a column in which I talked about Bentonville's three "islands of innovation"--the new multibillion-dollar Walmart corporate campus, which is home to some of the world's smartest people since Walmart is now as much a technology company as it is a retailer; the Crystal Bridges campus, where Alice Walton is focused on both art and health care; and the former Walmart home office, where Tom and Steuart Walton are creating a four-year private university.

Any city in the world would be proud to have just one of these campuses. The fact they're all in one Arkansas town boggles the mind.

Northwest Arkansas is the ninth fastest-growing metro area in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It's the only metro area in the top 10 in which abundant housing isn't a major factor in the growth. Growth instead is driven by Tyson Foods' and Walmart's decisions to move white-collar employees once scattered across the country to Arkansas. Those corporate mandates have brought hundreds of families, needed diversity, and intellectual capital to our state.

Big things are now happening elsewhere. In the old manufacturing city of Fort Smith (most Arkansans thought its best days were behind it when manufacturers headed south of the border several decades ago), a military mission to train fighter pilots from around the world has revitalized the town. Defense contractors are looking at Fort Smith as a good place to do business. I believe it will become a defense and aerospace hub during the next two decades.

In central Arkansas, Amazon's decision to make the area a regional hub not only led to thousands of jobs, but sent a message to the rest of the corporate world, where executives watch Amazon's every move. That message is this: Central Arkansas is a great logistics and manufacturing location. There are........

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