GEOG - Module 4 | For Exam 2

Economic Development

A strategic process aimed at improving economic well-being and standard of living through workforce training, job creation, and infrastructure expansion.

Gross National Product (GNP)

Total value of officially recorded goods and services produced by a country's residents in a year, including foreign earnings.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

Total value of officially recorded goods and services produced strictly within a country's physical borders in a year.

Gross National Income (GNI)

Monetary value of domestic output plus income from foreign investments minus debt payments sent to foreign nations.

Productivity and Development Levels

MDCs have high production output with low worker numbers (tech-intensive); LDCs have lower output relative to high worker numbers (labor-intensive).

Social Welfare Development Indicators

Non-monetary measures of well-being including literacy rates, infant mortality, life expectancy, undernourishment, and housing/food expenditure percentages.

UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

17 global goals adopted in 2015 by over 150 leaders to eradicate poverty, reduce inequality, and improve living standards by 2030.

Primary Economic Sector

Economic activities involving direct extraction of raw materials from Earth (e.g., agriculture, mining, fishing, forestry); dominant in peripheral nations.

Secondary Economic Sector

Economic activities involving processing, fabricating, or assembling raw materials into manufactured goods (e.g., steelmaking, textiles, auto assembly); dominant in semi-peripheral nations.

Tertiary Economic Sector

Economic activities involving the provision, sale, and exchange of goods and commercial services (e.g., retail, warehousing, entertainment); dominant in core nations.

Quaternary Economic Sector

Economic activities handling and processing knowledge, high-tech information, and R&D (e.g., software dev, scientific research, data processing); concentrated in core nations.

Global Division of Labor

The late-20th-century trend of concentrating labor-intensive manufacturing in peripheral/semi-peripheral regions while retaining high-level R&D and design in core regions.

Space-Time Compression

The rapid reduction in time it takes for goods, capital, and information to travel across space, making physical distance less of an economic barrier.

Just-in-Time (JIT) Delivery

An operational strategy where companies keep minimal inventory on hand, relying on fast global shipping to deliver production parts as needed.

Corporate Commodity Chain (Nike/IKEA Example)

Global production networks where corporate design occurs in core nations while component sourcing and manufacturing are contracted out across peripheral countries.

Outsourcing

Contracting external third-party companies or individuals to perform specific tasks traditionally managed in-house (e.g., external payroll or software support).

Offshoring

Relocating an entire business process, service center, or manufacturing plant to another country to exploit lower labor costs and tax rates.

Geography of a Cheap Product

The supply chain path of low-cost goods: Raw Materials -> Foreign Factory -> Container Ship -> US Port -> Distribution Center -> Retailer -> Consumer.

Pros and Cons of Cheap Goods

Pros: Increased consumer purchasing power and affordable goods for low-income households. Cons: Domestic factory closures, wage suppression, and community decline.

Circleville, Ohio Case Study

An example from "Is Walmart Good for America?" showing how corporate offshoring forced local factory closures, wage declines, and economic insecurity in US manufacturing towns.

Uneven Development

The systematic, unequal spatial distribution of wealth, resources, growth, and opportunities across different regions or populations at global, national, and local scales.

Spatial Scales of Uneven Development

Global (Core vs. Periphery), National (California vs. Mississippi), Local/City (wealthy suburbs vs. disinvested inner-city neighborhoods like Atlanta).

Income Inequality

The expanding income gap between rich and poor; the top 20% earns over half of total income, driving unequal access to housing, education, and wealth-building opportunities.