Dr. Mike Walden, North Carolina Cooperative Extension economist in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at N.C. State University, responds:

"Forbes considered a variety of factors, including business costs, regulatory environment, growth prospects and quality of life, and the good news is that North Carolina ranked fifth in the entire country, behind Virginia, Washington State, Utah and Colorado. We ranked very favorably on business costs. We also ranked very favorably on regulatory environment. The good news, however, continues because when Forbes went and looked at cities, North Carolina had six cities in the top 25; in fact, more than any other state, including Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Wilmington, Asheville and Winston-Salem. I think these rankings are important more than just simply to say, hey, we ranked high, because if we're looking at a very slow economy in the coming years - which most economists think is going to happen - I think businesses that are looking to expand are obviously going to look most closely at those areas that they find attractive. And here, North Carolina looks very, very good indeed."