©2012, TESCCC

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How are humans affected by their environment?

The environment humans live in affects what economic activities they choose

Economics is:

Studying how people use Studying how people use their resources to make a their resources to make a

livingliving

Economic geographers study how the location of resources affect the ways people make and use goods and services

Humans have moved from simple ways of making a living to very complicated methods of making money

Economic geographers have broken this development into four stages…

The Four Stages of an Economy

1.Primary2. Secondary3. Tertiary4. Quaternary

Primary Stage

In the first stage, human beings extract natural resources from the earth

This requires little or no technology, and mostly uses physical labor

Primary Stage

Examples: Agriculture, Fishing, Mining, and Forestry

Secondary Stage

Manufacture In the next stage, humans take

resources (raw materials) and convert them into finished, usable products

Secondary Stage

There are two main types of secondary activities: Heavy Industry: Produces large industrial

products, like ships or machines Light Industry: Produces goods people

consume(buy), like clothing, food, or household things

Tertiary Stage

Provide Services At this stage, humans earn

money based on services they provide

These activities involve intangible goods

Tertiary Stage

Examples: Banking, Hospitals, Transportation, Distribution, Entertainment…

Quaternary Stage

In the highest stage, humans produce intellectual goods

These are things that require high technology and education to produce

Quaternary Stage

The modern world is so complicated that humans have highly specialized jobs to manage it all

Air Traffic Control; Encrypted Communications

Quaternary Stage

EExamples: -High tech communication-Computers-Research-Consulting-Colleges

Development Human beings have

spent centuries developing from primary to quaternary activities

Some countries Some countries are far more are far more developeddeveloped than than othersothers

Development

Developing or Lesser-developed countries have economies based mostly on the primary and secondary sectors

Development Developing countries do not have the

complex infrastructure of developed countries Infrastructure: the necessary structures

that are needed for economic activities Roads Water Supply Sewage Electrical Grids Communications

Development

Developed countries earn most of their money from tertiary and quaternary activities, and no longer rely on primary activities

Tertiary and Quaternary activities are more valuable, so developed countries are wealthier

Examples

Developing Mexico, most of

Latin America Most of Africa

South of the Sahara

India China Most of the

Mideast

DevelopedDeveloped• The U.S.The U.S.• CanadaCanada• Most of EuropeMost of Europe• JapanJapan• South KoreaSouth Korea• AustraliaAustralia

Vocabulary

Subsistence agriculture: self-sufficiency farming in which the farmers focus on growing enough food to feed themselves and their families.

Commercial Agriculture: Large scale farming or ranching done for profit.

Vocabulary, Cont.

Cottage Industry: Home or village based production.

Commercial Industry: Factory-based production.