AP Human Geography Unit 7 Vocab

Primary Economic Activities

Primary activities extracts or harvests products from the earth such as raw materials and basic foods.

Secondary Economic Activities

produces finished goods from the raw materials extracted by the primary economy.

Tertiary Economic Activities

Also known as the service industry. This sector sells the goods produced by the secondary sector.

Quaternary Economic Activities

The knowledge, economy, and jobs dealing with other people’s money.

Quinary Economic Activities

The quinary sector includes the highest levels of decision-making in a society or economy.

Human Development Index

A composite statistic used to rank countries by level of development. It is a comparative measure of life expectancy, literacy, education and standards of living for countries worldwide.

Gross National Income (GNI)

The total amount of money earned by a nation's people and businesses.

Gross National Product (GNP)

includes GDP, income earned by residents from overseas investments, minus income earned by foreign residents.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

The total monetary or market value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period.

Per capita GDP

a measure of the total output of a country (the gross domestic product) divided by the number of people in the country

Commodity Chain

a process used by firms to gather resources, transform them into goods or commodities, and finally, distribute them to consumers.

Complementarity

The actual or potential relationship between two places, usually referring to economic interactions

Comparative Advantage

an economy's ability to produce a particular good or service at a lower opportunity cost than its trading partners

Literacy rate

the percent of the population that can read and write

Gender Inequality Index

a composite metric of gender inequality using three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market.

Wallerstein’s World Systems Theory

A theory that countries are dependent on each other politically and economically.

Core Countries

The core countries are the industrialized capitalist or imperialist countries, which depend on appropriation from peripheral countries and semi-peripheral countries. Core countries control and benefit from the global market.

Semi-Periphery Countries

The semi-periphery countries are the industrializing, mostly capitalist countries which are positioned between the periphery and core countries.

Periphery Countries

The periphery countries are those that are less developed than the semi-periphery and core countries. These countries usually receive a disproportionately small share of global wealth.

Weber’s Least Cost Theory

States that industry is situated within the area where the costs of transporting raw materials and the final output are minimal. Therefore, in this theory, Weber attempted to consider the role of transportation costs when choosing the location of an industry.

Bulk-gaining

products that are larger/bulkier/more volume than their parts

Bulk-reducing

products that are smaller/lighter/less volume than their parts

Growth Poles

are places of economic activity agglomerated (clustered) around one or more high-growth industries that stimulate economic gain.

Special Economic Zones (SEZ)

these zones are subject to lower taxes and improved infrastructure for foreign businesses (China)

Export Processing Zones (EPZ)

a kind of SEZ that is specific for outsourcing manufacturing for export to the home country (Mexico)

Free Trade Zones (FTZ)

another type of SEZ that covers a larger area, even entire cities, that provides low-cost warehousing, storage and transport of goods (Hong Kong, Singapore)

Just-in-time delivery

a system in which goods are delivered as needed so that companies keep in inventory only what is needed for production.

Outsourcing

When manufacturing jobs have been moved offshore in semi-periphery and periphery countries.

Agglomeration

The spatial grouping of people or activities for mutual benefit. (cluster)

Infrastructure

The basic structure of services, installations, and facilities needed to support industrial, agricultural, and other economic development.

Uneven Development

The increasing gap in economic conditions between core and peripheral regions as a result of the globalization of the economy.

Ecotourism

A form of tourism, based on the enjoyment of scenic areas or natural wonders, that aims to provide an experience of nature or culture in an environmentally sustainable way.