Lecture Notes: Economic Sectors and Patterns

Introduction

• Topic: Economic sectors and patterns (AP Human Geography Unit 7, Topic 2)
• Focus on different classifications for production and economic patterns in various countries

Economic Sectors

Primary Sector

• Involves jobs dealing with natural resources
• Examples: fishermen, farmers, coal miners

Secondary Sector

• Processes raw materials from the primary sector into products of greater value
• Examples: processing wheat into flour, lumber into plywood
• Location depends on transportation costs of raw resources and final products

Tertiary Sector

• Service-based activities
• Examples: lawyers, doctors, salespeople
• In developed countries, a significant part of the workforce is in this sector

Quaternary Sector

• Focuses on acquiring, processing, and sharing information
• Examples: journalism, finance, insurance, real estate

Quinary Sector

• Involves decision-making roles

• Examples: executives, government officials (e.g., presidents, CEOs)

• Note: Quaternary and Quinary sectors are sub-categories of the Tertiary sector

Economic Development and Country Classifications

Core Countries

• Most advanced economies, high standard of living
• Jobs mainly in tertiary, quaternary, and quinary sectors
• Examples: USA, Canada, European countries

Semi-Periphery Countries

• Increasing standard of living, more industrialization
• Jobs mainly in secondary and emerging tertiary sectors
• Examples: Mexico, Brazil, China, India

Periphery Countries

• Low standard of living, primarily primary sector jobs
• Some transition to secondary sector
• Many located in Africa and Asia

Global Economic Trends

• Offshoring Production:

  • Companies in core countries move production to semi-periphery and periphery countries due to lower labor costs
  • Advancements in transportation reduce shipping costs

• Break of Bulk Points:

  • Transition goods between different transportation modes
  • Example: cargo ships to trucks or trains

Weber's Least Cost Theory

• Determines optimal production location to minimize costs

• Bulk Gaining Goods:

  • Production near the market due to increased weight during manufacturing

• Bulk Reducing Goods:

  • Production near raw resources since goods become lighter

• Agglomeration:

  • Businesses cluster to share services, infrastructure, and reduce costs

• Ends up creating a triangle model with locations for raw resources, production, and market

Conclusion

• Covered economic sectors, global trends, and Weber's Least Cost Theory
• Reminder to review and answer questions provided
• Resource Suggestion:
  • Consider using the ultimate review packet for AP Human Geography