11.1: Chapter Introduction and Objectives
- Page ID
- 212565
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)Chapter Introduction & Objectives
- Understand the different economic sectors, including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary sectors.
- Differentiate between basic and non-basic industries and their roles in local economies.
- Describe the processes and impacts of coal production, labor dynamics, and textile manufacturing.
- Explain the principles of free trade and its influence on global economic patterns.
- Analyze the factors influencing the location of industries, including transportation, land, and capital availability.
- Trace the history of industrialization and its effects on contemporary economic landscapes.
Part 1: ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY
Introduction:
Economics is the social science focused on the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. It includes a wide range of our daily activities, including what we do for a living and how we spend our money. Nearly every economic exchange has a spatial dimension to it, and exchanges occur at multiple spatial scales. Economic geography helps us understand how wealth is created, distributed and moves between individuals, communities and even countries.
A solid grasp of how the economy works is essential to understanding how almost any aspect of our society works. People who have a robust understanding of the mechanisms of our economy can often understand many issues that involve culture, politics, religion, ethnicity, and dozens of other topics. Economics was no doubt a key factor in your decision to come to college. It probably explains a significant part of why you are in this class or attending this college. If you see the power of money, and the influence of the economic system in the operation of daily life, you might find some value in the political economic ideology of Marxism. You may find the Marxist social science methodology known as Historical Materialism useful. If you’re not careful though, you might be accused of falling into the trap of economic determinism, which like some of the other deterministic views introduced elsewhere in this text, can lead to an over-reliance on a single causal variable. If you have been reading this text carefully, you will have recognized that the author is sympathetic to historical materialism as a tool for understanding social and cultural conditions. This chapter, however, focuses on applied economic geography.
Economic Sectors
Nearly everyone must have a job of some sort, but what sort of jobs are available to you is often conditioned by where you live. Regions specialize in different types of industries because almost every city, town or village connected to the global economy needs to sell something of value to outsiders so things unavailable locally may be purchased. If a location is unable or unwilling to buy and sell with outsiders, it must, therefore, be able to supply all of its own needs, a condition, or economic policy, known as autarky, that requires a region to achieve complete economic self-sufficiency. Since almost no group of people is able, or willing, to live without goods and services from beyond their borders, nearly every group trades local products for imported ones. Locations unable to produce any good or service worthy of trade will be economically weak. Without an ability to engage in trade, locations face extinction.
Figure Kahuku, HI: This sugar mill, now a tourist attraction, is a reminder of how natural resources often spur industrialization.
Basic and Non-Basic Industries
Basic industries are economic activities that attract buyers from beyond the local region. They bring wealth to the local region from some more distant region. These are export industries. A good example of a basic industry is the oil extraction in Saudi Arabia (or Texas). Essentially every local economic system must have at least one basic industry. Often this is called a base industry. Such industries permit a region to be economically independent from other economies. Without a local base industry, people in such a region would move away, or at least seek jobs in a neighboring region. Non-basic industries, on the other hand, are economic activities that do generate sales of goods or services to outsiders. For example, dentist offices are non-basic industries because dentists rarely attract customers from out of town. Most service sector jobs are non-basic in nature because they serve to circulate money within a local economy. Non-basic industries are ultimately dependent upon basic industries.