7.2 Economic Sectors and Patterns

Primary Sector

Jobs and activities that involve extracting natural resources, such as farming, mining, and fishing.

Secondary Sector

Jobs and activities that take products from the primary sector and turn them into goods, such as construction work.

Tertiary Sector

Jobs and activities that provide services to individuals, such as lawyers.

Quaternary Sector

Jobs and activities that acquire, process, and share information, such as journalists.

Quinary Sector

Jobs and activities that involve making decisions, such as a CEO or president.

Preindustrial Economy

An economy where primary jobs are most common.

Industrialization

A period where secondary and tertiary jobs start to rise while primary jobs decrease.

Post Industrialization

An economy where tertiary jobs are most common and secondary jobs start to decline.

Core Countries

Countries with the most advanced economies and the highest standard of living.

Semi-periphery Countries

Countries with emerging economies that are industrializing.

Periphery Countries

Countries that rely heavily on the exportation of resources and are not industrialized or industrializing.

Alfred Weber's Least Cost Theory

A theory of industrial location that states the location of an industry is influenced by transportation cost, labor cost, and agglomeration.

Transportation Cost

Shipping costs associated with moving resources and materials for production and shipping the final product to market.

Labor Cost

Costs incurred from workers producing the product.

Agglomeration

The clustering of different economic activities and industries in a specific geographic area.

Break of Bulk Point

A location where goods are transferred from one mode of transportation to another.

Multinational Corporation

A company that has business operations in at least one country other than its home country.

Bulk Reducing Good

A product that becomes lighter and easier to transport as production occurs, typically using heavy raw resources.

Bulk Gaining Good

A product that becomes heavier and more difficult to transport as production occurs, typically using lighter raw materials.