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Development

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A process of improvement in the material conditions of people through diffusion of knowledge and technology

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MDC (More developed Country)

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A country that has progressed relatively far along a continuum of development.

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LDC (Less Developed country)

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A country that is at a relatively early stage in the process of economic development.

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(HDI) Human Development Index

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Indicator of level of development for each country, constructed by the UN, combining income, literacy, education, and life expectancy.

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(GDP) Gross Domestic Product

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The value of the total output of goods and services produced in a country in a given time period (Usually 1 year).

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Primary Sector

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The portion of the economy concentrated with the direct extraction of materials from Earth's surface, generally through agriculture, although sometimes by fishing, mining, and forestry.

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Secondary Sector

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The portion of the economy concerned with manufacturing useful products through processing, transforming, and assembling raw materials.

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Tertiary sector

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The potion of the economy concerned with transportation, communications, and utilities, sometimes extended to the provision of all goods and services to people, in exchange for payment.

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Productivity

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The value of a particular product compared to the amount of labor needed to make it.

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Value Added

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The gross value of the product minus the costs of raw materials and energy.

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Literacy rate

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The percentage of a country's people who can read and write.

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(GDI) Gender-related Development index

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Compares the level of development of women with that of both sexes.

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(GEM) Gender empowerment Measure

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Compares the ability of women and men to participate in economic and political decision making.

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(FDI) Foreign direct investment

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Investment made by a foreign company in the economy of another company.

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Structural Adjustment Programs

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Economic policies imposed on less developed countries by international agencies to create conditions encouraging international trade, such as raising taxes, reducing government spending, controlling inflation, selling publicly owned utilities to private companies.

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Transnational corporation

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A company that conducts its research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters are located.

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Free Trade

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International trade without tariffs, quotas, or other restrictions.

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Fair Trade

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Alternative to international trade that emphasizes small business and worker owned and democratically run cooperatives and requires employers to pay workers fair wages, permit union organizing and comply with minimum environmental and safety standards.

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Resource

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A substance in the environment that is useful to people, is economically and technologically feasible to access, and is socially acceptable to use.

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Animate power

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Power supplied by people or animals.

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Inanimate power

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Power supplied by machines.

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Biomass Fuel

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Fuel that derives from plant material and animal waste.

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Fossil Fuel

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Energy source formed from the residue of plants and animals buried millions of years ago.

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Renewable energy

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A resource that has a theoretically unlimited supply and is not depleted when used by humans.

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Nonrenewable energy

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A resource that has a finite supply and can be depleted.

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Proven Reserve

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The amount of a resource remaining in discovered deposits.

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Potential Reserve

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The amount of a resource in deposits not yet identified but thought to exist.

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Fission

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The splitting of an atomic nucleus to release energy.

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Radioactive waste

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Materials from a nuclear reaction that emit radiation; contact with such particles may be harmful or lethal to people; therefore, the materials must be stored safely for thousands of years.

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Breeder Reaction

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A nuclear power plant that creates its own fuel from Plutonium.

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Ferrous

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Metals, including iron, that are utilized in the production of iron and steel.

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Nonferrous

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Metals utilized to make products other than iron or steel.

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Pollution

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Addition of more waste than a resource can accommodate.

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Air Pollution

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Concentration of trace substances, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur monoxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and solid particulates, at a greater level than occurs average air.

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Greenhouse effect

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Anticipated increase in Earth's temperature caused by carbon dioxide trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface.

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Ozone

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A gas that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation, found in the stratosphere, a zone between 15-50 km (9-30 mi) above earth' Surface.

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(CFC) Chlorofluorocarbon

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A gas used as a solvent, a propellant in aerosols, a refrigerant, and in plastic foams and fire extinguishers.

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Acid Deposition

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Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides, emitted by burning fossil fuels, enter the atmosphere - where they combine with oxygen and water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid - and return to earth's surface.

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Acid Precipitation

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Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog.

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Photochemical Smog

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An atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollution, especially from motor chemical emissions.

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(BOD) Biochemical Oxygen Demand

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Amount of Oxygen required by aquatic Bacteria to decompose a given load of organic waste; a measure of water pollution.

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Sanitary Landfill

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A place to deposit solid waste, where a layer of earth is bulldozed over garbage each day to reduce emissions of gasses and odors from the decaying trash, to minimize fires and to discourage vermin.

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Passive solar Energy systems

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Solar energy systems that collect energy without the use of mechanical devices.

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Active Solar Energy Systems

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Solar energy systems that collect energy through the use of physical devices such as photovoltaic cells or flat plate collectors.

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Photovoltaic cell

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Solar energy cells, usually made from silicon, that collect solar rays to generate electricity.

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Hydroelectric power

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Power generated from moving water.

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Geothermal Energy

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Energy from steam or hot eater produced from hot or molten underground rocks

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Fusion

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Creation of energy by joining the nuclei of two hydrogen atoms to form helium

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Recycling

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The separation, collection, processing, marketing, and reuse of unwanted material.

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Conservation

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The sustainable use and management of a natural resource through consuming it a less rapid rate than it can be replaced.

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Preservation

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Maintenance of a resource in its present condition with as little human impact as possible.

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Sustainable Development

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The level of development that can be maintained in a country without depleting resources to the extent that future generations will be unable to achieve a a comparable level of development.

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Biodiversity

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The number of species within a specific habitat.

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Electoral College

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A certain number of electors from each state proportional to and seemingly representative of that state's population. Each elector chooses a candidate believing they are representing their constituency's choice. The candidate who receives a higher portion of the votes within a state receives all the electoral votes from that state.

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Electoral vote

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The decision of a particular state elector that represents the dominant views of that elector's state.

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Federalism

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A system of government in which power is distributed among certain geographical territories rather than concentrated within the central government.

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Popular vote

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The tally of each individual's vote within a given geographic area.

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Reapportionment

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The process of reallocation of electoral seats to defined territories.

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Redistricting

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The drawing of new electoral district boundary lines in response to population changes.

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Gerrymandering

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The designation of voting district so as to favor of particular party or candidate.

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States' rights

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Rights and powers believed to be held by states rather than the federal government.

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Ancillary activities

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Economic activities that surround and support large scale industries, such as shipping and food service.

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Quaternary sector

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Economic activities concerned with research, information gathering, and administration.

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Quinary sector

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The most advanced form of Quaternary activities consisting of high-level decision making for large corporations or a high-level scientific research.

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World systems theory

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Theory developed by Immanuel Wallerstein that explains the emergence of a core, periphery and semi periphery in terms of economic and political connections first established at the beginning of exploration in the late 15th century and maintained through increased economic access up to the present.

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Core periphery model

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A model of the spatial structure of development in which underdeveloped countries are defined by their dependence on a developed core region.

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Core

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National or global regions where economic power, in terms of wealth, innovation, and advanced technology is concentrated.

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Semi periphery

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Those newly industrialized countries with median standards of living; countries offer their citizens relatively diverse economic opportunities, but also have extreme gaps between poor and rich.

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Periphery

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Countries that usually have low levels of economic productivity, low per capita income, and generally low standards of living.

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Rostow's stages of development

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And model of economic development that describes the country's progression, which occurs in 5 stages, transforming turn from LDC to MDC.

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Gross national product

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The total value of goods and services including income received from abroad, produced by the residents of a country within a specific time period. 1 year.

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Net national product

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A measure of all goods and services produced in a country in a year, including production from foreign investments, minus the loss or degradation of natural resources.

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Industrial Revolution

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The rapid economic and social changes in manufacturing that resulted after the introduction of the factory system to the textile industry in England at the end of the 1700s.

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Industrialization

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The process of industrial development and which countries evolve economically from producing basic, primary goods to using modern factories for mass production. The highest levels of development, national economies are geared mainly toward the delivery of services and exchange of information.

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Post industrial economy

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An economy that de-emphasizes industry, preferring services instead.

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Sustainable development

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The idea that people living today should be able to meet their needs without prohibiting the ability of future generations to do the same.

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Anthropocentric

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Human centered; in sustainable development, this refers to ideas that focus solely on the needs of people without considering the creatures with whom we share the planet are the ecosystems upon which we depend.

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Agglomeration

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Grouping together of many firms from the same industry in a single area for collective or cooperative use of infrastructure and sharing of labor resources.

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Backwash effect

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The negative effects on one region that result from economic growth within another region.

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Brick-and-mortar business

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Traditional businesses with actual stores in which trade or retail sales occur; it does not solely exist on the internet.

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Conglomerate corporation

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A firm that is comprised of many smaller firms that serve different functions.

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Deglomeration

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The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an established agglomeration.

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Deindustrialization

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Loss of industrial activity in a region

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E-commerce

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Web based economic activities

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Economic backwaters

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Regions that fail to gain from national economic development

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Export Processing Zone

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Areas where governments create a favorable investment and trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries.

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Footloose firms

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Manufacturing activities in which the cost of transporting the raw materials and finished product is not important for determining the location of the firm

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Fordism

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System of standardized mass production attributed to Henry Ford

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Foreign investment

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Overseas business investments made by private companies

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Gender equity

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A measure of opportunities given to women compared to men within a country

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Industrialized countries

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Countries at the forefront of industrial production and innovation through the middle of the 20th century. Include USA, Britain, France, Russia, Germany, and Japan.

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Least cost theory

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A concept developed by Alfred Weber to describe the optimal location of a manufacturing establishment and relation to the cost of transport and labor and the relative advantages of agglomeration and deglomeration.

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Manufacturing region

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A region in which manufacturing activities are clustered together

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Maquiladoras

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Name for factories and for companies that have factories just outside the United States (most in northern Mexico) in areas that have been specifically designated by the Mexican government. In such areas, factories cheaply assemble goods for export back to the USA.

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Offshore financial center

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Areas that have been specially designed to promote business transactions and thus have become centers for banking and finance

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Purchasing power parity

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Monetary measurement of development that takes into account what money buys in different countries.

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Regionalization

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Process by which specific regions acquire characteristics that differentiate them from others within the same country. In economic geography, regionalization involves the development of dominant economic activities in particular regions

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Spatially fixed costs

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An input cost in manufacturing that remains constant wherever production is located

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Spatially variable costs

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An input cost in manufacturing that changes significantly from place to place and in its total amount and in its relative share of total costs.

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World cities

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A group of cities that form an interconnected, internationally dominant system of global control of finance and commerce. ( I. E. New York, Tokyo, London, Hong Kong)

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