Introduction to Economic Activity

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Introduction to Economic Activity
Wednesday 7th December 2005

• Learning Objectives
• To understand the different sectors of economic
  activity.
• To understand models of economic development.

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NICs in the LEDW
UK
Ford and GM
Industrial Growth
Development of Global Operations
Industrial change
Secondary Activities
UK
Economic, social, political and environmental
impact of changes
Economic Activity
Changing pattern of retailing
Tertiary and Other Activities
Development of business and scienceparks
Cost and benefits of different locations
Planning Issues
City centre vs. Out of town
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What do I already know from GCSE Geography?

• Complete the quiz to find out!

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Sectors of economic activity

• There are several sectors into which economic
  activity can be divided
• Primary
• Secondary
• Tertiary
• In recent years the tertiary sector has been
  sub-divided as services come to make up more of
  the economy of an MEDC.
• Quaternary
• Quinary

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• Over time, the importance of the sectors changes.
• Primary is the first sector to be important,
  followed, in sequence, by the others.
• As the tertiary and later sectors increase in
  importance, the earlier ones (primary and
  secondary) decline in relative importance.
• This is shown in the in the sector model, in
  which MEDCs have experienced the changes
  described above, whereas LEDCs have not yet
  experienced the full range of the changes.

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Rostows model of economic development

• Based on the experiences of the rich
  industrialised nations.
• Concerned with the stages countries go through to
  achieved economic growth.
• Investment key to economic growth.
• With increasing investment, a country will move
  from a subsistence-based economy (stage 1) to an
  economy dominated by the production of consumer
  goods and tertiary and quaternary industries
  (stage4-5).
• Rostows model implies that developing countries
  need to follow the stages of development
  experienced by the western industrialised
  nations.

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Rostows model of economic growth
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Weaknesses of Rostows model

• Critics suggest the model is too simplistic.
• Dispute the assumption that experiences of
  developed countries are appropriate fro all
  developing countries
• Resource
• Markets