Chapter 1 Contd Theoretical approaches to economic geography 2 Behavior geographers Not everyone is homo economicus Typically when we travel a certain path over and over again it seems to us that it s the shortest path between A and B Unified wholes with a structure that exceeds the sum of individual Depends who is in political power they will influence through tax breaks 3 Political Economy behaviors and policies 4 Post structuralist Some of everything Persuades you towards it but is actually nothing aka nihilism Negative doctrine points out negatives for everything offers nothing up in return 4 Capitalism Based on private ownership They take on risk to gain profit Two major groups of decision makers Private households Businesses Cyclical nature Rock Business that commodifies rock GDP gross domestic product value of all the goods and services produced in a given country in one year Per capita divided by population Often used as measurement of quality of life 4 5 World Economy Networks process and institutions that shape the planetary system of resource distribution create wealth and poverty and contribute to the rise and fall of different national powers Constantly transformed by a combination of technological and geopolitical forces Capitalist World Economy A multistate economic system which began in western Europe and as it expanded it developed a core of dominant developed countries and a periphery First World High GDP per capita higher standard of living Second World Eastern Europe Third World less developed world of latin America Africa etc 5 Globalization Don t use this just use developed or undeveloped Shouldn t be seen as beneficial or negative it s a mix Can communicate with people all over the world but people can sell drugs human traffic much easier Culture Homogenization of culture bring everything together under one umbrella of pop culture Distinctive local traits are being watered down International consumer products taking over local products Nike Coke Globalization of the economy International Finance Transnational Corporations TNCs Corporations whose HQs are in the core of developed countries North America Western Europe Japan TNCs not countries are the primary agents of international trade largely between and within their organizations Rio Tinto biggest supplier for all minerals except for oil based in UK British Petroleum BP Based in UK but operations are in Gulf Coast Iran Iraq drive large portion of oil Because they re headquartered in developed regions they re going to keep most of the money in the core Foreign direct investment for core regions Money that TNCs invest in Investment by foreigners in factories that are operated by the foreign owners of TNCs Locational Specialization Each location plays distinctive role Population and resources declining in importance for production McDonalds toys all produced in Sao Paulo Brazil because of the huge population they wanted more money so they moved to China Changing because of technology and brain power India has a huge population but because of the English education system that they brought in they have a very educated population but they don t have the resources that a lot of developed countries have TNCs identify optimum geographic places for this Problems in world development Disparity between rich and poor 85 richest people have as much money as 3 5 billion poorest Environment being overstressed by Massive overconsumption Wasteful consumer culture in developed world