Midterm - Quiz # 1 (Geography 207, January 17, 1997)

(http://faculty.washington.edu/krumme/207/exams/midterm1.html)

Name:___________________________

PART I (Mini-Questions) 15 Points

Select 5 (five) from the following 8 items (3 points each) for "two-sentence answers". First, please define and/or identify the term's conceptual meaning. In a second sentence, please suggest why this concept may be relevant or how it may be used in Economic Geography. (Use the back of this page if needed)

(1) "Secondary Sector Activities"

[Manufacturing, processing industries/activities; they are not just involved in processing raw materials into products, but also, and increasingly so, "intermediate" products into other intermediate and final products (as part of a "vertical" product chain and the general process of "roundabout production" in an increasingly specialized and sub-divided manufacturing economy. If you look up the term in Goodall's dictionary, you may want to note that his reference to a synonym "non-basic activity" is incorrect and misleading. More about that later. Otherwise, the concept had been covered in class and in H&I;]

(2) "Dependent" variable

[The variable to be "explained" with the help of "independent variables"; these independent variables serve as the "explanatory" variables; however, the extent to which this relationship or "explanation" actually implies "causality" varies. It may merely refer to a statistical relationship. Thus, the relationship is often expressed as: a dependent variable is a function of one or more "independent" variable(s); was discussed in class]

(3) Mobile and immobile factors of production ("factor mobility")

[Strictly speaking factor mobility does not only refer to spatial mobility, but mobility between different uses or occupations of factors of production (Land, labor, Capital etc.). As such "land" may be mobile in the sense that its use may change; labor may be "mobile" (or immobile) in the sense that it can (or cannot) move between occupations. Our interest as geographers would typically focus on the often implied spatial nature of such mobility; of course, you are right if you suggest that land is not mobile spatially. See Goodall, p.166]

(4) Externality/ externalities;

[Positive or negative impacts, side-effects or spillovers which are usually not reflected in the costs or prices of a particular good or service, i.e. not covered by a market mechanism; see H&I, p.337; Goodall, p.164].

(5) "Global"

[reference to the world-wide presence of a phenomenon or a world-wide spatial pattern of locations of an organization and/or a pattern of interdependencies]

(6) "Footlooseness" as different from "spatial mobility"

[footlooseness: freedom to select between different destinations/ locations; mobility: ability (ease) to leave a location and move between locations]

(7) "Spatial" as different from "regional"

[space: dimensional concept, measured in terms of distance or height, depth etc.; region: delineated space, a "container" of specific phenomena, on the basis of which the particular region is defined]

(8) Select a concept (of your choice) which you anticipate will be useful or needed in the context of your "concentration"; then define and describe the use of this concept.

[?? Emphasis on conciseness, appropriateness, .... ?? ]

PART II (Mini-Essay) 15 Points

Please respond to one of the following questions with an at least paragraph-long statement : (You may use the back of this page for your anwer; please write legibly)

(1) The Location Quotient obviously represents more than just a coefficient of two coefficients: Venture some first interpretation(s) of relatively low location quotients associated with some activity in some region. What could the fact that an activity has a location quotient smaller than "1" mean? Could there be more than one explanation for low location quotients?

[A low L.Q. for a particular activity, as measured e.g. by employment, can possibly be explained by the presence of significant imports, a lack of specific resources, a relatively low need/demand for a good or service (different consumption patterns) or a relatively high productivity requiring less labor for producing needed output]

(2) "Economic Activities" are at the heart of our study of Economic Geography. Why would we be interested in disaggregating these "economic activities" into sub-groups? How much disaggregation would be useful, i.e. how many sub-groups should be identify? Why should we or should we not go down directly to the level of the individual firm, farm or household?

[In order to detect differences, we need to find groups or categories of activities which are internally similar and externally different. Disaggregation requires additional data and attention (e.g. computer time) and therefore tends to be costly].

(3) "Computers are merely tools, and electronic communication in class is merely one form of educational communication." Try to make the point that economic geographers have an interest in information technologies which goes beyond educational logistics.

[Two major points were discussed in class: (1) Substitution between physical transportation and virtual communication; and (2) the economic and regional importance of expanding information services. More generally, we are interested in information technologies not just as tools in our own educational, incl. research work, but also in terms of