Capitalism

An economic system where private individuals/businesses control and operate production for profit with a free market.

Communism

A system where the government controls the means of production and distributes resources to all citizens, aiming to remove social classes.

Socialism

A system where the government interacts with the economic and political system, regulating private businesses and controlling production, with businesses owned by the people.

Primary Economic Activities

Activities like extraction of minerals, agriculture, fishing, and forestry, commonly found in Less Developed Countries (LDCs).

Quaternary Economic Activities

Activities related to higher education, technology, blogging, designing, and R&D, often found in Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) and More Developed Countries (MDCs).

Quinary Economic Activities

High-level services within a country, such as education, healthcare, advanced R&D, and governmental functions, typically found in MDCs.

Secondary Economic Activities

The process of refining and finishing goods extracted from primary economic activities.

Tertiary Economic Activities

A process where a country converts from making goods to being service-based, including retail, healthcare, and hospitality.

Ancillary Activities

Economic activities that support primary economic activities, such as providing food and necessities to workers in a mining area.

Basic Industries

The main economic activity of an area, such as the steel industry in Pittsburgh with an international market.

Footloose Industries

Industries that can be located virtually anywhere because they do not depend on transportation of resources, like Adobe.

Labor Intensive Industries

Industries that are very reliant on manual labor, often moving to countries with cheaper labor costs.

Multiplier Effect

The snowball effect of an initial investment that starts a new industry, reflecting how many times money has circulated in the economy.

Nonbasic Industries

Businesses where the consumers live in the same community as the business, like a ski gear shop in Utah.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP)

A measurement of the total monetary value of goods and services a country produces, usually measured annually.

Gross Domestic Product per Capita

The total monetary value of goods and services a country produces annually, divided by the number of people in the country.

Gross National Product (GNP)

Includes the GDP and the profits from overseas sources.

Human Development Index (HDI)

An index used to rank countries based on metrics like freedom, birth rates, death rates, migration rates, and infant mortality rates.

Purchasing Power Parity

The exchange rate of currency between two countries, showing which currency has more power.

Economic Development

A method of increasing the economic health and quality of life for a country by increasing income, reducing poverty, and promoting jobs.

Fast World

An economic core with a high level of connection and fast telecommunications and transportation technology.

Slow World

An economic periphery that does not have high-speed telecommunications or transportation and is usually developing.

Sustainable Development

The use of natural resources that meets the current needs without sacrificing access for future generations, considering social, economic, political, and environmental impacts.

Core-Periphery Model

A way to see the spatial distribution of developed regions (cores) where concentrated economic, political, social, or environmental activities happen.

Dependency Theory

MDCs exploit LDCs by extracting raw materials and selling finished products back at a higher price, making LDCs dependent on core countries.

Neocolonialism

MDCs control former colonized LDCs through economic, political, and cultural influence.

Periphery

A region/country with low levels of economic development, often exploited by MDCs, and exporting raw materials to core countries.

Semi-periphery

A blend of core and periphery nations with both high and low economic activities, producing both raw and finished goods.

World Systems Theory

A model that divides the world into core, semi-periphery, and periphery based on economic activities and exploitation.

Agglomeration

The clustering of similar economic activities in a single area, creating its own economic ecosystem.

Brick and Mortar Business

A physical store like a warehouse or retail store, allowing consumers to see the physical product.

Conglomerate Operation

A company made up of different sectors for different purposes.

Cumulative Causation

The snowball effect of an initial investment that starts a new industry, reflecting how many times money has circulated in the economy.

Deglomeration

When companies separate from an area due to various economic changes or decline in a related industry.

Fixed Costs

Expenses that remain constant regardless of production output, such as loan payments.

Fordism

Mass production through specialization of workers into specific tasks.

Least Cost Theory

Businesses aim to find the middle ground between transport of materials, location of the market, and price of land.

Site Factors

Characteristics of a location that make it suitable for a business, such as land quality for farming.

Situation Factors

Factors within an area, like transportation, utilities, and market access, that reduce business costs.

Spatially Fixed Costs

Costs that do not change even when the location changes; the location is not important to the business.

Spatially Variable Costs

Costs that matter to the business because they change based on location.

Time-Space Compression

Shows us how the world has shrunk in terms of travel time due to advancements in transportation.

Variable Costs

Costs that change due to production output and sales.

Export Processing Zone

A place that provides incentives for foreign businesses to operate.

Foreign Direct Investment

An investment made by a company in a different country.

International Division of Labor

Different sectors of a job are located across the world.

Maquiladoras

Factories located just outside the US border to take advantage of different minimum wage laws.

New International Division of Labor

Low economic activity jobs are outsourced, while high-skill jobs remain in core countries.

Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs)

Countries that are industrializing and transitioning from periphery to semi-periphery.

Special Economic Zones (SEZs)

Areas with incentives to attract businesses, such as tax breaks and faster export processes.

Offshore Financial Center

A place that allows financial businesses to work with non-residents, often with light regulation and low taxes.

Outsourcing

Companies cut costs by moving jobs to countries with cheaper labor.

Transnational Corporations

Companies with headquarters in one country but operations on a global scale.

Treaty Ports

Places where a country is able to import or export goods/services, fostering job growth and CBD development.