AP Human Geography Vocabulary

Unit 7 list 2

Just in Time Production

Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed. Diffusion from Toyota in Japan

Export Processing Zone (EPZ)

Areas where governments create favorable investments and trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries.

Free Trade Zones

A geographic are where goods may be landed, handled, manufactured or reconfigured, and re exported without intervention of the customs authorities.

Maquiladoras

Factories built by US companies in Mexico near the US border to take advantage of much cheaper labor costs in Mexico and close proximity to US markets.

Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

specific area within a country in which tax incentives and less stringent environmental regulations are implemented to attract foreign business and investment

Market Orientation

The tendency of an economic activity to locate close to its market to limit transportation costs because it is a bulk gaining activity

Resource Orientation

The tendency of an economic activity to locate close to its resources to limit transportation costs because it is a bulk reducing activity

Microloans

The practice of loaning people in poverty small amounts of money, in order for people to start their own small business. Often loans to women in LDCs

Multinational Corporations (MNC)

A business that has its facilities and other assets in at least one country other than its home country.

Neocolonialism

International economic arrangements where colonial power maintains control of colonies and dependencies after WWII.

Outsourcing

A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers (usually out of the country) for cheaper labor costs

Postindustrial

Economic transition from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy.

Purchasing Power Parity (PPP)

Equilibrium exchange rate between currencies to equalize their purchasing power. The Big Mac index is an example.

Substitution Principle

Substitution of a product, service, or process to another that is more efficient and beneficial while retaining the same functionality, such as bettering the environment.

Technology Transfer

Already existing knowledge, facilities, or capabilities developed with money from the government and can be used for a number of things rather than a particular group.

Techno Pole

Centers or nodes of high technology research and activity around which a high-tech corridor is sometimes established.

High-Tech Corridors

Place where technology and computer industries agglomerate.

Growth Pole

An urban center with certain attributes that will stimulate regional economic development and its hinterland.

Value Added

Gross value of the product minus the cost of raw materials and energy

Deindustrialization

Jobs shift from secondary to tertiary sector; leading to Rust Belt phenomenon in the US Midwest

Asian Tigers

(S Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong) Succeeded Japan as leading Asian manufacturers in 1980s

BRICs

(Brazil, Russia, India, China) predicted economic growth with sizable domestic economies, predicted to dominate world economy by 2050

NICs

Newly Industrialized Countries

Rowstow's Five Stages of Development

a liberal developmental model showing traditional society, pre-conditions for take-off, take-off, drive to maturity, age of mass consumption

United States Mexico Canada Agreement

replaced NAFTA, Canada, US and Mexico free trade agreement

WTO

The World Trade Organization - an international body that enforces agreements that reduce barriers to international trade; successor to the GATT