• You do not have to repeat the question in your answer.
• You may (indeed you are expected to) refer to concepts and ideas mentioned in class or text (and do that without having to give credit!)
• Select your questions not necessarily on the basis of how easy they are but how much they are suited to communicate your understanding.
• Try to avoid repetition between your answers.
• Write legibly!
• Total points: 60 + Bonus.

This final examination has two parts (A & B).

PART A (30 Points) Select ONE QUESTION FROM EACH of the following 5 sections for brief answers: (5 answers / 6 points each)

1. LOCATION
   1. Differentiate between "locational flexibility" and "footlooseness".
      (a) What exactly is meant by these concepts? (b) Given that there are no activities which are completely flexible or footloose and that both attributes are potentially desirable but also costly, formulate a brief statement about how to evaluate these two qualities, for example, under what conditions is which attribute more important?
   2. What is an "Aggregate Spatial Demand Curve" and what is its conceptual importance?
   3. Stutz introduces land use processes as "bidding processes" and the rent concept as a "bid rent". How does a farmer or an urban resident determine her "bid rent"? [Stutz, p.265 ]

2. SPATIAL INTERACTION: Trade & Transportation
   4. What did Edward Ullman suggest are the "bases for interaction", including his "intervening opportunities"? Is this it? Or are there other explanations of spatial interaction not covered by Ullman?
   5. Trade theorists (such as David Ricardo or Michael Porter) suggest that regions trade with each other on the basis of their "advantages". Briefly clarify and/or elaborate. [Stutz, p.436 + 470 ]

   6. Define the "Beta Index", apply it to the network in our 8th week exercise (after the suggested change) and suggest why this index may do a better, worse or different job than the summary numbers you derived from the "Accessibility Matrix" in your exercise? [Stutz, p.174 + Network Exercise]

3. MACRO-ECONOMIC INTERDEPENDENCE: Regional Multipliers
   7. Explain the difference between "induced effects" and "indirect effects" in specifying multipliers derived from "input-output analysis". [ WebSite | WebSite (Class-Handout)]

   8. Why is it so important to specify the "propensity to consume locally" (pcl) in regional economic analysis? [Your class notes | WebSite ]

   9. Define the "Regional Employment Multiplier" and identify geographic attributes which you would expect to influence the size of the multiplier (including how and why). [ WebSite]

4. ECONOMIC CHANGE & REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT:
   10. You have heard about "product cycles", "industry cycles" and "Kondratiev Cycles" in the Stutz text and in class. How do you evaluate the use of such "cycle theories" for explaining regional economic development?
   11. What is meant by "import substitution" and under what conditions might it be a good basis for an economic policy of a region or country? [Stutz, p.16 + WebSite ]

   12. What did the Nobel Prize winning Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal mean by "backwash effects"? What is the explanatory role of these effects in his development theory? [Stutz, p.549 ]

5. ANALYSIS IN ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY:
   13. What exactly do we do when we identify "isodapanes" (and "families of isodapanes") and then zero in on a "critical isodapane", and why do we do it as explanation-oriented economic geographers?
   14. Explain the difference between "dependent" and "independent" variables in a class-related context of your choice (with examples). [ WebSite | WebSite ]

   15. What did we try to accomplish when we introduced "substitution" or "substitutability" into any of our location/spatial theories? [WebSite]

PART B: Select ONE (1) question for an essay-type statement: (for 30 points) (You may open your Notebook at 11:20)

16. The large multinational industrial enterprise has become one of the "whipping boys" of the debate about globalization and the WTO. At the same time, it remains one of the hopes of many Third World countries. As an economic geographer, try to bring some order to the arguments about the role of the Multinational Enterprise in a Third World development context. [ Website (Class-Handout) | Stutz, pp.368ff.]

    
    

17. "Economic behaviors in space have as much or more to do with 'decisions' and 'decision-making' as with equilibrium outcomes of classical spatial theory." Make a systematic argument for more decision-oriented approaches to Economic Geography. [ WebSite | WebSite]

    
    

18. Among areas which we neglected during this quarter in Geography 207 are important concerns which might justify separate weeks or chapters covering
    1. an economic geography of consumption [WebSite]
    2. an economic geography of jobs and labor [WebSite]
    3. the role of governmental activities and policies in economic geography. [ WebSite]
    Select one these concerns; then use your freshly gained conceptualization skills and your background in adjacent subfields within Economic Geography to justify and outline such an economic geography, as well as to highlight a few important "dependent" variables and (what you would consider to be) plausible "independent" variables. [ Resources ]

    
    

19. Expand on or improve the "Conclusions" to your Portfolio. In this statement, develop more explicit and/or deeper links between your area of (student-research-) interests and the field of economic geography than what you have submitted so far.

    
    

BONUS: (Maximum 4 points)

1. Who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the
   1. Chicago-based Boeing Corporation? OR [Phil(ip) M. Condit]

   2. Redmond-based Microsoft Corporation? [Steve Ballmer]

2. Last week, new unemployment rates were announced for May 2003:
   1. for the United States [OR] [6.1% ]

   2. for Washington [7.3 ]

3. Do you know whether the U.S. "Balance of Trade" is active or passive, i.e. shows more exports than imports (trade surplus) or more imports than exports (trade deficit) and how high the surplus or deficit may be
   1. per average recent month or [$U.S. 42 billion (April) ]

   2. for last year? [ $435.2 billion (2002) ]

4. Present Exchange Rates:
   1. How many Euros do you get for 100 $U.S. OR [84-85]

   2. How many $ U.S. do you get for 100 Euros? [117-118]

You can still request the return of your Portfolio and/or final examination by leaving a self-addressed envelope in my box in Smith 408. For off-campus shipments, you need to affix stamps. Appointments (by Email) will also be possible for Fall Quarter for personal pick-ups.