Download Economic Geography Terms

Economic Geography
Mrs. Brahe
Global Studies
Objectives
 At the end of this lesson,
you will be able to:
 Identify the four basic types of economic activity
 Define the four levels of economic activity
 Distinguish among renewable, non-renewable,
and inexhaustible resources
 Identify key components of economy support
systems
 Distinguish between GNP and GDP and between
developing and developed nations
What is an Economy?
 An economy consists of the
production and exchange of goods
and services among a group of people
 Can be local, regional, national or
international
Economic Systems
 Definition: the way people produce
and exchange goods and services
 Four types:
 Traditional – goods and services traded without
using money (“barter”)
 Command – government controlled production
(they own the means “planned”)
 Market – production is determined by demand
(“capitalism”)
 Mixed – combination of command and market
provides so that all will benefit
Economic Activities
 People choose how they meet their needs
 Some people only raise enough food or animals to
meet their need to eat and have little left over to
sell to others = subsistence agriculture
 Other areas have market-oriented agriculture that
produces crops or animals that farmers sell to
markets
 Market oriented depends on the Law of Supply
and Demand: A law which states that when
supplies of goods and services become plentiful,
prices tend to drop. When supplies become
scarcer, prices tend to rise.
Economic Activities
 Industries can be various sizes


Small industry - family of craftspersons who produce goods
to be sold locally, take place in home = cottage industries
Large industry – commercial, meets needs in a large area
 Levels of Economic Activity




Primary: gathering raw material
Secondary: adding value to materials by
changing form (manufacturing)
Tertiary: providing business or professional
services (salesperson, teacher, or doctor)
Quaternary: information, management and research service
by highly-trained people
Natural Resources
 Three types
 Renewable: can be replaced naturally
(ex: trees, seafood)
 Non-renewable: cannot be replaced once removed
from the ground (ex: metals like gold, iron or non-metals like
gemstones, limestone or even fossil fuels like petroleum and coal)
 Inexhaustible energy: unlimited, as a result of
solar or planetary processes (ex: sunlight, wind, tides)
 Are abundant but not distributed equally
around the world
 Location, quality and quantity of a country’s
natural resources are important to its economy
Economic Support Systems
 Producing and Distributing goods
requires helpful support systems!
 Infrastructure – basic support systems
needed to keep an economy going
 Includes power, communications,
transportation, water, sanitation
and education systems
 More sophisticated infrastructure
= more developed country
Measuring Economic Development
 Per capita income: average amount of
money earned by each person in a political unit
 Gross national product (GNP): total value of
all goods and services produced by a country
over a year or other specific time (by… not
necessarily in)
 Gross domestic product (GDP): total value
of all goods and services produced within a
country in a given period of time
GDP 2005
GDP = Consumption + Government Expenditures +
Investment +Exports - Imports
Measuring Economic Development
 Levels of development
 Developing nation
 low GDP and limited development
on all levels of economic activities
 Lack an industrial base, struggle to provide people
with items to meet basic needs
 Developed nation
 High per capital income and varied economy
(especially with quaternary activities like
computer software development)
 Western Europe, Japan, Canada, United States…
And we are done with Human
Geography notes!