unit 6: economic geography

developed

• improvement in tech/production

• social+economic welfare of the people

developing

progress being made

measuring development

• economic welfare

• development in tech+production

• development in social welfare

gross national product (GNP)

the total value of officially recorded goods + services by the people of a country during a year

gross domestic product (GDP)

total value of officially recorded goods + services within the country during a year

gross national income (GNI)

total income earned by a country’s residents and businesses

GNI per capita = ____

average salary

formal economy

legal economy that the gov taxes and moniters

informal economy

illegal and untracked economy

eg: illegal drug trade, cash under the table jobs

4 classes in measuring development

1. very high developed

2. high developing

3. medium developing

4. low developing

   everyplace lies somewhere here; a continuous process

human development index (HDI)

• used to measure development

• highest score is: 1.0

• 3 factors

  • standard of living (avg salary per capita)

  • long + healthy life (life expectancy)

  • access to knowledge (avg # of years people are in school)

purchasing power parity (PPP)

adjustment made to GNI to account for difference among countries in cost of goods

inequality HDI

modifies the HDI to account for inequality within a country

gender in quality index (GII)

• closest score to 0 is best

• 3 factors:

  • women’s empowerment (% women that are high school graduates, % women in political decision making)

  • labor/work force(% women that work + get paid)

  • reproductive health (% of teen pregnancies, maternal mortality rate)

rostow’s model

1. traditional

2. preconditions to take off

3. take off

4. drive to maturity

5. age of mass consumption

rostow’s model: traditional

society hasn’t started development yet

rostow’s model: preconditions to take off

progressive leaderships leads to the country’s greater productivity

rostow’s model: take off

• country experiences a sort of industrial revolution

• sustain growth takes hold

• urbanization increases

rostow’s model: drive to maturity

• technology diffuses

  • modernization is evident

rostow’s model: age of mass consumption

• high income

• widespread production

• majority works in sector

dependency theory

• countries are dependent on other countries

  • some will always be dependent on others

neocolonialism

world powers (core countries) control poorer (periphery) countries economies

fair trade

commerce in which products are made & traded according to standards to protect workers & small businesses.

micro finance

• alternative source of loans

  • small loans + other financial services

  • aids in the development of small businesses

  • repayment of loans allows for future lending

comparative advantage

producing products cheaper than the competitor

barriers to development

• lack of education

• poor economy

• lack of resources

• conflict

• isolation/bad location

cost of development: environment

• pollution (air, soil, water)

• exceed carrying capacity

• destruction of ecosystem

cost of development: lack of regulations

• encourages investment in development

• creates exporting zones

exporting zone

areas in country that have less regulation + encourage development

during industrialization: location of factories

• near coal (power source)

• near ports (faster to transport)

  when tech improved, didn’t need to be near the power source

modes of transportation

• boat

• trains

• planes

• truck

• pipeline

alfred weber’s least cost theory

• focuses on minimizing cost and multiple input points

• looks at secondary economic activity

• transportation is the #1 cost to think about

weber’s least cost theory: transportation

lowest cost of moving raw material to factory and finished product to market

weber’s least cost theory: labor

if it’s cheap to transport, company may locate farther away from raw materials+factory

weber’s least cost theory: agglomeration

• locating your businesses next to others that will benefit your business

  • can produce high cost

• eg: silicon valley (lots of tech companies)

deagglomeration

• companies leaving an established agglomeration

• one reason: costs are to high

cost neutral

product in middle of raw materials and market

weight gaining

• product closer to market

• farther from raw material

• final product is heavier than raw material

weight reducing/losing

• product far from market

• closer to raw materials

• weight of final product is lighter than raw materials

• eg: copper, steel

hotelling’s model (model of spatial competition)

• in tertiary economic activity

• put your location next to opponents; force people to choose you or opponent

• location interdependence

• how far are people willing to travel for your product

fordism (in the past)

• mass production (standardization of the product)

• assembly lines

  • special tools + machines

• only one site to mass produce

• corporations + countries help each other

  • eg: adopted the gold standard

• financial orders

  • workers given higher wages so they can afford the product

post-fordism

• goods aren’t mass produced in one place anymore

  • companies outsource so production passed is all around the world

global division of labor

• produced + put together in different parts of the world

• reasons:

  • less labor laws

  • cheaper

  • less environmental standards

commodity chain

entire process that a product goes through to become a product

complex commodity chain

commodity chain with lots of steps

eg: cars

just in time delivery

business strategy to reduce cost: companies only order what is needed instead of having extra inventory

break of bulk point

a location where the mode of transportation or handling of goods changes

vertical integration

 own the commodity chain

horizontal integration

buying out competition

spatial disaggregation

 parts for a product are produced in different factories around the world

rust belt

former industrial/manufacturing states in northern United States that lost their main job of manufacturing due to foreign competition

debt for nature swaps

• some debt forgiven if a country is willing to invest in conservation

• this tends to be for countries in the periphery or semi-periphery

economic complementaries

when places specialize in different things that each other demand

ecotourism

• tourism that supports nature conservation, the environment, and benefits local communities

• can lead to big corporations taking over which is bad

• eg: national parks, costa rica

ethanol manufacturing

near corn producing areas

growth pole

• specific area or sector that drives economic development in a region

• idea is it can help spill over and create growth in surrounding region

brownfields

•  land within an urban area that was previously developed but now may contain hazardous materials and pollutants

• cities will redevelop these areas into housing complexes, retail, etc

• cities and developers clean it up and repurpose the area