Select 3 (three) from the following 7 items (5 points each) for "paragraph-long" answers.
(1) Explain the general effects which non-linear transport costs have on locational outcomes. The nature of these non-linear transport costs is such that they increase at a strongly declining rate; in other words, additional miles less and less expensive.
(2) Describe the general nature of activities which you would expect close to cities (rather than in rural areas) or close to city centers (rather than in suburbs). In your description, please use terms and concepts which would make you sound like a land use theorist.
(3) How would you explain the need for a mobile library in terms of spatial demand analysis.
(4) Briefly explain why the (agglomerative) outcome of the Hotelling model (Hotelling Theory of Agglomeration, often referred to as the "ice-cream-vendor-on-the-beach" model) represents a private-sector optimum (profit-maximum) and, at the same time, a socially undesirable locational outcome.
(5) First, define and explain Alfred Weber's concept of isodapane; then develop a simple example (other than our Kirkland / Bellevue / Redmond model used in class) in which you demonstrate the use of "critical isodapanes" for cooperative spatial (agglomeration) purposes.
(6) "Time and space are similar yet different dimensions. They also complement each other in locational analysis." Explain & comment.
(7) Informational transactions are contributing as much to the "frictions of space" as do physical (transportation) transactions. Identify arguments for a discussion.
Select 3 (three) from the following 7 items (5 points each) for "paragraph-long" answers.
(8) Identify what is meant by the Three-Sector Hypothesis and briefly explain why it has been expanded to four or five sectors.
(9) Explain the "product cycle theory" of regional change (i.e. the implication of product cycles for regional development).
(10) The slogan "Act first, think later" has often been used as a behavioral proposition. Do you think this short-cut proposition would serve well as a first "cut" in search of an explanation of locational behaviors?
(11) Briefly explain the Export Base Theory and its limitations.
(12) Structure and Structural Change have been focal concepts of our framework for this class. Define these concepts and briefly indicate their significance for our analysis and understanding for economic activity patterns and their development.
(13) Explain the concept of connectivity and its significance for economic-geographic analysis.
(14) As an Economic Geographer, briefly establish a nexus between uncertainty (on the one hand) and flexibility and/or flexible specialization (on the other hand).