Economic Activities

Economic Geography: Economic Geography: the study of people’s livelihoods, how livelihood systems vary, & how they are interrelated to the environment & other people

TYPES OF ECONOMIC LIVELIHOOD

A. Categories of Economic Activity 1. Harvest or extraction 2. “Value added” industries 3. “Service-sector” industries 4. “White-collar” information services 5. High-level decision making

Human Economic Activities Primary industry—those Primary industry—those involved in extracting natural resources from the Earth. Secondary industry— Secondary industry—processing stage, commonly called manufacturing, processing, or construction. Other three types all involve services of some sort, rather than the extraction or production of commodities. Tertiary Tertiary: retail, wholesale, or personal/professional services Quaternary Quaternary: information, research, management Quinary Quinary: executive decision makers

B. Locational Factors for Economic Activities Primary Economic Activities: 1. Primary Economic Activities: -- must be located close to the resource

Primary Economic Activity: Nga Trang, Vietnam

Primary Activities: I.Subsistence Agriculture: I.Subsistence Agriculture: for survival II.Commercial Agriculture: II.Commercial Agriculture: for profit –Extensive Agriculture Small labor input for large land area Relies on natural fertility of soil –Intensive Agriculture Large labor for small land area Use of machinery, pesticides, fertilizers, etc. –The Green Revolution –Urban Subsistence Farming Resource Exploitation: III. Resource Exploitation: fishing, forestry, mining

2. Secondary Economic Activities Needs to be accessible to: - the resource - an energy source - a labor force - a market

3. Tertiary Economic Activities proximity to the marketproximity to the market is the most important locational factor for tertiary activities

Quaternary Economic Activities 4. Quaternary Economic Activities access to telecommunications infrastructure & highly-skilled work force most important

. Quinary Economic Activities 5. Quinary Economic Activities locationally tend to cluster