Transcript wg 6.11

Chapter 6.1
Economic Geography
Pg. 113
Economic Systems
Deals with how people earn a living and
use resources and with the links among
economic activities.
 Grouped into 4 money-making
categories.
 Primary, secondary, tertiary, and
quaternary.

Economic Activities
Economic activities that use natural
resources directly are called primary
resources.
 Include basic raw materials and are
located on the site of the natural
resource being used.

Continued/Secondary
Use raw materials to create something
new.
 Examples: steelmaking, processing
wheat into flour, making lumber into
plywood.

Continued/Tertiary
Provide services to people and
businesses.
 Doctors, teachers, and dry cleaners.
 Located near customers.

Continued/Quaternary
Workers process and distribute
information
 Workers are required to to have
specialized skills and knowledge.
 Jobs include: research scientists,
computer programmers, and
government administrators.

Economic systems

3 main kinds of systems: subsistence
economy – people make stuff for themselves.
 Market Economy – people choose what to
buy and sell. Guided by free enterprise – lets
competition among businesses determine the
price of products.
 Basis of capitalism, where businesses are
privately owned.
Continued
Command Economy – the government
decides what to produce, where to make it,
and what price to charge.
 May charge less for a product so more
people can afford it. Cost 1.00 to produce a
loaf of bread but the government charges .25
 Found in Communist countries.
 Govt. owns or controls almost all production.

Level of Development

Development refers to the steady
improvement of in the economy and in
people’s quality of life.
Measures of Development
One measure is Gross National Product
(GNP) – total value of goods and
services that a country produces in a
year.
 Gross domestic product (GDP) includes
only goods and services created within
the country. Useful when divided by the
number of people of the country.

continued

Industrialization – process by which
manufacturing based on machine power
becomes widespread in an area.
Standard of Living
A countries level of development, in
turn, determines the standard of living of
its people.
 Literacy rate – the percentage of people
who can read and write – reflects
standard of living.

Developed and Developing
Countries

World is organized into developed or
developing countries.
 Developed – high level of industrialization,
and their people enjoy high standards of
living.
 Developing – Poorer countries that are less
developed. Economy is less productive and
have lower standards of living.