Economic Geography .pptVIP

Economic Geography Overview Economic Sectors Changes in the U.S. and Global Economy Trading Blocks Economic Location Theory Primary Activities Direct removal of natural resources such as mining, forestry, and agriculture -most important in the LDCs. Subsistence Agriculture Fishing and Forestry Mining and Quarrying Primary Products Trade in Primary Products Importance to Developing Economies Danger of Commodity Trade Dependence Secondary Activities: Manufacturing Secondary - Processing and transforming natural resources: steel, textiles, auto assembly. These used to be most important in MDCs, but increasingly important in the semi-periphery (Korea, Mexico, Brazil, Singapore) Tertiary and Beyond: Services Provision of services in exchange for payment. Includes retailing, banking, law, education, and government. Education, R D, and information technology becoming most important in the postindustrial core regions. Less-developed countries often focus on tourism. Services historically were clustered into settlements. Increasingly the most important service centers are massive world cities. Tertiary and Beyond: Services Less-developed countries often focus on tourism. Tertiary and Beyond: Services Resources and Technology Resources affect patterns of development: cultivable land, energy sources, minerals. But changes in technology affect the value of these resources. Also, trade or lack of it can offset lack of resources (Japan) or make them less relevant (Brazil). Technology Systems: roughly every 50 years since 1790 a new complex of technologies has revolutionized the world economic system and its structure. The most recent of these is the system which includes biotechnology, advanced materials (superconductors, solar power) and information technology. Which parts of the world benefited from the shift from coal to oil? Which suffered? Which parts of the world will benefit from the inevitable end of our reliance on petroleum and the necessary shift to wind, hydro