Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Agglomeration
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.
Agribusiness
Commercial agriculture characterized by integration of
different steps in the food-processing industry, usually
through ownership by large corporations.
Agriculture
Farming
Alternative Energy
energy derived from sources that do not use up natural
resources or harm the environment
Aquaculture
Raising marine and freshwater fish in ponds and
underwater cages
Biodiversity
The amount of biological or living diversity per unit area. It
includes the concepts of species diversity, habitat diversity
and genetic diversity.
Bulk Gaining
An industry in which the final product weighs more or has
a greater volume than the inputs.
Carbon Emissions
carbon compounds that pollute the atmosphere as a result
of burning fossil fuels
Carbon Trading
A company that does not use up the level of emissions is
entitled to, can sell the remainder of its entitlement to
another company that pollutes above its entitlement.
Categories of Wealth
Low class, middle class, upper middle class, high class
Commercial Agriculture
Agriculture undertaken primarily to generate products for
sale off the farm.
Debt Crisis
Occurs when a poor nation took loans and the interest rate
rose while the world economy slowed down. Poor nations
were unable to repay their debts and interest on their loans
Deglomeration
The dispersal of an industry that formerly existed in an
established agglomeration
Deindustrialization
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
Development
A process of improvement in the material conditions of
people through diffusion of knowledge and technology
Digital Divide
A term used to describe the discrepancy between people
who have access to and the resources to use new
information and communication tools, such as the
internet, and people who do not have the resources and
access to the technology.
Economies of Scale
Factors that cause a producer's average cost per unit to fall
as output rises
Export-Processing Zones
areas where governments create favorable investment and
trading conditions to attract export-oriented industries
Footloose Industry
Industry not bound by locational constraints and able to
choose to locate wherever it wants.
Fordism
A system of assembly-line manufacturing and mass
production named after Henry Ford, founder of the Ford
Motor Company and developer of the Model T car. (783)
Global Warming
An increase in the average temperature of the earth's
atmosphere (especially a sustained increase that causes
climatic changes)
GMOs
Genetically modified organisms. Organisms created by
combining natural or synthetic genes using the techniques
of molecular biology.
Green Revolution
A shift in agricultural practices in the twentieth century
that included new management techniques,
mechanization, fertilization, irrigation, and improved crop
varieties, and resulted in increased food output
Industrial Revolution
A series of improvements in industrial technology that
transformed the process of manufacturing goods.
Just-in-time manufacturing
a process that redefines and simplifies manufacturing by
reducing inventory levels and delivering raw materials at
the precise time they are needed on the production line
Kyoto Protocal
An international treaty that stipulates that highly
developed countried must cut their emissions of CO2 and
other gasses that cause climate warming by an average of
5.2% by 2012; does not go into effect until at least 55% of
the countries involved have ratified it
Maquiladoras
The term given to zones in northern Mexico with factories
supplying manufactured goods to the U.S. market. The
low-wage workers in the primarily foreign-owned factories
assemble imported components and/or raw materials and
then export finished goods.
Micro Lending
Lending small amounts of money to the world's poorest
people.
Monoculture
Farming strategy in which large fields are planted with a
single crop, year after year
Multiplier Effect
An effect in economics in which an increase in spending
produces an increase in national income and consumption
greater than the initial amount spent.
Non-Governmental Organizations
A private sector organization that does not primarily aim to
make a profit. Instead, they operate for the benefit of
others in society.
North/South Split
development tends to be split, with the northern
hemisphere more developed than the southern hemisphere
Offshoring
A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the
responsibility for production to independent suppliers.,
Moving operations from the country where a company is
headquartered to a country where pay rates are lower but
the necessary skills are available.
Outsourcing
A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the
responsibility for production to independent suppliers.
Postindustrial
the time in society that came after the Industrial
Revolution
Renewable vs Nonrenewable
Renewable-replinished at a rate equal or greater than they
Site Factors
Location factors related to the costs of factors of
production inside the plant, such as land, labor, and capital
Situational Factors
Factors affecting the consumer decision process; those that
are specific to the situation that may override, or at least
influence, psychological and social issues
Subsistence Agriculture
Agriculture designed primarily to provide food for direct
consumption by the farmer and the farmer's family
Subsistence Economies
economies in which almost all able-bodied adults are
largely engaged in getting food for themselves and their
families
Sustainable Agriculture
Farming methods that preserve long-term productivity of
land and minimize pollution, typically by rotating soilrestoring crops with cash crops and reducing in-puts of
fertilizer and pesticides.
Sustainable Development
Development that meets the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet
their own needs.
Technology Transfer
The communication of specific plans, designs, or
educational programs necessary for the use of new
technologies from one society or class to another.
Threshold
In central place theory, the size of the population required
to make provision of services economically feasible.
Transnational Corporation
A company that conducts research, operates factories, and
sells products in many countries, not just where its
headquarters or shareholders are located.