Studied by 112 people
Tertiary Sector
The portion of the economy concerned with transportation, communications, and utilities, sometimes extended to providing goods and services to people in exchange for payment.
Least Cost Theory
A concept developed by Alfred Weber to describe the optimal location of a manufacturing establishment in relation to the costs of transport and labor, and the relative advantages of agglomeration and deglomeration.
Agglomeration
Grouping together of many firms from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources.
Alfred Weber
German economist, formulated a theory of industrial location: an industry is located where the transportation costs of raw materials and final product is a minimum.
Break-of-bulk Point
A location where large shipments of goods are broken up into smaller shipments for delivery to local markets.
Bulk-gaining Industry
Industries whose final products weigh more after assembly than they did previously in their constituent parts, and whose processing facilities tend to have production facilities close to their markets.
Bulk-reducing Industry
Industries whose final products weigh less than their constituent parts, and whose processing facilities tend to be close to sources of raw materials.
Cottage Industry
An industry in which the production of goods and services is based in homes, as opposed to factories.
Deglomeration
The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an established agglomeration.
Dependency Theory
Based on the idea that certain types of political and economic relations (especially colonialism) between countries and regions of the world have created arrangements that both control and limit the extent to which regions can develop.
Distance Decay
The declining degree of acceptance of an idea or innovation with increasing time and distance from its point of origin or source.
Export-oriented Industrialization
A trade and economic policy aiming to speed up the industrialization process of a country by exporting goods for which the nation has a comparative advantage.
Fordist Production
Form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to preform repeatedly.
Greenhouse Effect
The trapping of the sun's warmth in a planet's lower atmosphere due to the greater transparency of the atmosphere to visible radiation from the sun than to infrared radiation emitted from the planet's surface
Industrial Revolution
The rapid economic and social changes in manufacturing that resulted after the introduction of the factory system to the textile industry in England at the end of the 18th century.
Infrastructure
The basic physical and organizational structures and facilities (e.g., buildings, roads, and power supplies) needed for the operation of a society or enterprise.
International Division of Labor
Division of labor which occurs when the process of production is confined soley into a national economy.
Just-in-time Delivery
Method of inventory management made possible by efficient transportation and communication systems, whereby companies keep on hand just what they need for near-term production, planning that what they need for longer-term production will arrive when needed.
Labor-intensive Industry
An industry for which labor costs comprise a high percentage of total expenses.
Location Theory
Theory concerned with the geographic location of economic activity; addresses the questions of what economic activities are located where and why.
Maquiladora
Multinational factories located outside the United States/Mexican border in areas that have been specially designated by the Mexican government. In such areas, factories cheaply assemble goods for export back into the United States.
Modernization Model
Model used to explain the process a nation goes through as it transitions from a traditional society to a modern one.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stage 1 (Traditional Stage)
Stage is characterized by a subsistence, agricultural based economy, with intensive labor and low levels of trading, and a population that does not have a scientific perspective on the world and technology.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stage 2 (Preconditions to Take-Off Stage)
Stage in which a society begins to develop manufacturing, and a more national/international focus, as opposed to regional, outlook.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stage 3 (Take-Off Stage)
Stage described as a short period of intensive growth, in which industrialization begins to occur, and workers and institutions become concentrated around a new industry.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stage 4 (Drive to Technology)
Stage takes place over a long period of time, as standards of living rise, use of technology increases, and the national economy grows and diversifies.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stage 5 (High Mass Consumption)
Stage characterized by mass production and consumerism.
Modernization Theory: Rostow's Stages
A theory of economic development that describes a country's progression which occurs in five stages transforming them from least-developed to most-developed countries.
New International Division of Labor
A global division of labor associated with the growth of transnational corporations and the deindustrialization of the advanced economies.
Outsourcing
Sending industrial processes out for external production.
Post-Fordist Production
World economic system characterized by a more flexible set of production practices in which goods are not mass produced; instead, production has been accelerated and dispersed around the globe by multinational companies that shift production worldwide.
Primary Industrial Regions
Core areas of industrial development with subsidiary clusters, including Western and Central Europe, Eastern North America, and Eastern Asia.
Right-to-work Law
A U.S. state that has passed a law preventing a union and company from negotiating a contract that requires a worker to join a union as a condition of employment (Closed Factory).
Secondary Industrial Regions
Semi-periphery areas of industrial development that have recently been intensely developing and urbanizing, including Mexico, Brazil, South Africa, and India.
Self-Sufficiency Model
Model encourages countries to isolate fledgling businesses from competition of large international corporations.
Site Factors
Location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside the plant, such as land, labor, and capital.
Situation Factors
Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory.
Textile
Fabric made by weaving, used in making apparel.
Vertical Integration
Ownership by the same firm of a number of companies that exist along a variety of points on a commodity chain (e.g., Perdue Farms).
W.W. Rostow
American economist, developed the "Stages of Growth" model in the late 1950s.
Wallerstein's Capitalist World Economy
Theory originated by Immanuel Wallerstein and illuminated by his three- tier structure, proposing that social change in the developing world is inextricably linked to the economic activities of the developed world.
Primary Sector
The portion of the economy concerned with the direct extraction of materials from Earth's surface, generally through agriculture, although sometimes by mining, fishing, and forestry.
Secondary Sector
The portion of the economy concerned with manufacturing useful products through processing, transforming, and assembling raw materials.
Quaternary Sector
Service sector industries concerned with the collection, processing, and manipulation of information and capital. Examples include finance, administration, insurance, and legal services.
Quinary Sector
consists of the highest levels of decision-making and includes the top officials in various levels of government, high-level scientific research, and business.
Ecotourism
A form of tourism that supports the conservation and sustainable development of ecologically unique areas
Brain Drain
the loss of highly educated and skilled workers to other countries
remitance
Sum of money sent by a migrant to his or her family back home.
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