AP human geo unit 6 terms – Flashcards

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Agglomeration
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A process involving the clustering or concentrating of people or activities. The term often refers to manufacturing plants and businesses that benefit from close proximity because they share skilled-labor pools and technological and financial amenities.
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Agglomeration economies
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The savings to an individual enterprise derived from locational association with a cluster of other similar economic activities, such as other factories or retail stores
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Agricultural labor force
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The number of people who work in agriculture. This is important because a large value indicates that the country is likely an LDC dependent on agriculture, while a small value indicates that there are fewer people working in agriculture, meaning that the agriculture is more efficient.
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Assembly line production
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system of workers and machinery in which a product is assembled in a series of consecutive operations; typically the product is attached to a continuously moving belt
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Aluminum industry
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manufacturers of aluminum considered as a group
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Bid rent theory
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geographical economic theory that refers to how the price and demand on real estate changes as the distance towards the Central Business District (CBD) increases.
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Break-of-bulk point
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a location along a transportation route where goods must be transferred from one carrier to another
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Bulk gaining industry
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An industry in which the final product weighs more or has a greater volume than the inputs.
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Bulk reducing industry
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An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs.
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Calorie consumption
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As a percentage of daily requirement is an important index of development. People in MDCs generally consume more than 130% of their daily requirements, but most people in LDCs barely get enough to sustain themselves. The problem is worst in Africa, where most people do not eat enough.
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Carrier efficiency
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An organization that provides communications and networking services. A communications and networking "service provider." See common carrier and private carrier
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Circular and cumulative causation
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a process through which tendencies for economic growth are self-reinforcing; an expression of the multiplier effect, it tends to favor major cities and core regions over less advantaged peripheral regions
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Comparative advantage
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the ability to produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than another producer.
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Core-periphery model
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Describes the pattern of distribution of the MDCs and LDCs. When the earth is viewed from the North Pole, the MDCs are clustered near the center of the map while the LDCs are near the edges.
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Cottage industry
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Manufacturing based in homes rather than in a factory, commonly found before the Industrial Revolution.
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Cultural convergence
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The tendency for cultures to become more alike as they increasingly share technology and organizational structures in a modern world united by improved transportation and communication.
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Deglomeration
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The process of industrial deconcentration in response to technological advances and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition.
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Deindustrialization
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process by which companies move industrial jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly deindustrialized region to switch to a service economy and to work through a period of high unemployment
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Dependency theory
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A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of the historical exploitation of poor nations by rich ones
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Development
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act of improving by expanding or enlarging or refining
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Ecotourism
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a form of tourism that supports the conservation and sustainable development of ecologically unique areas
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Energy consumption
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An indicator of development. MDCs tend to consume much more energy per capita than do LDCs. This will be important in the future because as LDCs begin to industrialize, there will be a great strain on the world's energy supply
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Fixed costs
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Costs that do not vary with production or sales level
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Footloose firm
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a firm with manufacturing activities for which the cost of transporting activities or product is not important in determining location of production; an industry or firm showing neither market nor material orientation
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Fordism
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system of standardized mass production attributed to Henry Ford
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Foreign direct investment
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a joint venture between a foreign company and a United States company
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Freight rates
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Price paid to transport goods such as grain from the prairies by train
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Friction of Distance
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the increase in time and cost that usually comes with increasing distance
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Gender
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A socially and culturally constructed set of distinctions between masculine and feminine sets of behaviors that is promoted and expected by society
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Globalization
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growth to a global or worldwide scale
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Gross domestic product
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measure of the United States economy adopted in 1991
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Gross National Income
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Calculates the monetary worth of what is produced within a country plus income received from investments outside the country, as a more accurate way of measuring a country's wealth in the context of a global economy.
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Human Development Index
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measure used by the united nations that calculates development not in terms of money or productivity but in terms of human welfare. the HDI evaluates human welfare based on three parameters: life expectancy, education, and income
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Industrial Revolution
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the transformation from an agricultural to an industrial nation
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Infrastructure
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the stock of basic facilities and capital equipment needed for the functioning of a country or area
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Informal economy
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Economic activity that is neither taxed nor monitored by a government; and is not included in that government's Gross National Product; as opposed to a formal economy
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In-transit privilege
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the application of a single-haul freight rate from origin to destination even though the shipment is halted for processing en route, after which the journey is completed
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International Division of Labor
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system of labor whereby products are produced globally, while profits accrue only to a few.
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Just in Time production
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Process that redefines and simplifies manufacturing by reducing inventory levels and delivering raw materials just when they are needed on the production line
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Least-cost theory
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Model developed by Alfred Weber according to which the location of manufacturing establishments is determined by the minimization of three critical expenses: labor, transportation, and agglomeration.
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Levels of development
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undeveloped, developing, developed; based on physical infrastructure, education of population, public health, etc.
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Line-haul cost
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how many dollars/mile
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Locational interdependence
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Theory developed by economist Harold Hotelling that suggests competitors, in trying to maximize sales, will seek to constrain each other's territory as much as possible which will therefore lead them to locate adjacent to one another in the middle of their collective customer base.
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Maquiladora
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an assembly plant in Mexico (near the United States border)
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Market equilibrium
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a situation in which quantity demanded equals quantity supplied
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Market orientation
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The tendency of an economic activity to locate close to its market; a reflection of large and variable distribution costs.
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Measures of development
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used to distinguish LDCs from MDCs. They include GDP, literacy rate, life expectancy, caloric intake, etc.
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Multiplier effect
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An effect in economics in which an increase in spending produces an increase in national income and consumption greater than the initial amount spent.
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Neocolonialism
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control by a powerful country of its former colonies (or other less developed countries) by economic pressures
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Offshoring
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Relocation of processes or functions from a "home" country to another country.
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Outsourcing
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The procuring of services or products, such as the parts used in manufacturing a motor vehicle, from an outside supplier or manufacturer in order to cut costs
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Quaternary activities
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economic activities concerned with research, information gathering, and administration
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Physical Quality of Life
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quality of life
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Purchasing Power Parity
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a measure of how many units of currency are needed in one country to buy the amount of goods and services that one unit of currency will buy in another country
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Quinary activities
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The most advanced form of quaternary activities consisting of high-level decision making for large corporations or highlevel scientific research.
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Satisficing location
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a less-than-ideal best location, but one providing an acceptable level of utility or satisfaction
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Secondary activities
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economic activities concerned with the processing of raw materials such as manufacturing, construction, and power generation
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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 in its total amount and in its relative share of total costs
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Spatial margin of profitability
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the set of points delimiting the area within which a firm's profitable operation is possible
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Spread effect
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(syn: trickle-down effect) the diffusion outward of the benefits of economic growth and prosperity from the power center or core area to poorer districts and people
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Substitution principle
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Principle that maintains that the correct location of a production facility is where the net profit is the greatest. Therefore in industry, there is a tendency to substitute one factor of production (e.g., labor) for another (e.g., capital for automated equipment) in order to achieve optimum plant location.
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Technology gap
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The contrast between the technology available in developed core regions and that present in peripheral areas of underdevelopment
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Technology transfer
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The communication of specific plans, designs, or educational programs necessary for the use of new technologies from one society or class to another. (p. 358)
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Terminal costs
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loading & unloading costs. fixed, not a function of how far you are going but a function of what type of transporation you are using (ex// ship/truck). use of containers reduces these costs
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Tertiary activities
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Activities that provide the market exchange of goods and that bring together consumers and providers of services such as retail, transportation, government, personal, and professional services.
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Third world
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underdeveloped and developing countries of Asia and Africa and Latin America collectively
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Transnational corporation
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A company that conducts research, operates factories, and sells products in many countries, not just where its headquarters or shareholders are located.
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Trickle-down effect
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The theory that when people in developed countries have more money to spend, they will buy goods and services offered by businesses in less developed countries and that this spending will eventually help strengthen economies in the developing world.
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Ubiquitous industry
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market-oriented industry whose establishments are distributed in direct proportion to the distribution of population
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Underdevelopment
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(photography) inadequate processing of film resulting in inadequate contrast
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Uniform plain
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A hypothetical portion of earth's surface assumed to be an unbounded, uniformly flat plain with uniform and unvarying distribution of population, purchasing power, transport costs, accessibility, and the like
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Weberian analysis
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Max Weber disagreed with Karl Marx on the issue of class analysis. He argued that Marxian class analysis was too narrow and too economistic - and was merely based on money or income. Max Weber argued that other variables or must be taken into account, namely: status, and so the prestige or the political pull of the job.
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World Systems Theory
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Wallersteins theory of the core, semi periphery, periphery, and external areas. The core benefited the most from the development of a capitalist world economy. Semi perihpery was the buffer between the core and periphery. Periphery are states that lack strong central gov'ts or are controlled by other states. External areas are states that mainteained their own economic system and for the mosr part, remianed outside of the capitalist world economy
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W.W Rostow
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in 1960 proposed a widely cited model for economic advancement. Generalizing on the "sweep of modern history," he theorized that all developing economies may pass through five successive stages of growth and advancement.
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