Industrialization & Economic Development - AP Human Geography

The average person in the U.S. will produce about 4 pounds of solid waste per day.

From the nineteenth century onwards, the industrialized world saw a remarkable improvement in mortality rates, especially among children but in all age demographics. The direct causes for this were varied, but included improved medical knowledge, better access to medical care, and improved sanitation standards. Some of the more indirect causes included more food sources due to better agricultural technology, wider social mobility, and more trust in modern science, which led there to be fewer famines and lower infection rates.

Stage 1 of the demographic transition is typically pre-historic and occurs when the infrastructure and resources to guard against famine, disease, drought, and other disasters are generally not available (no flu vaccines, no food aid programs, etc.). This results in high and fluctuating birth and death rates, because environmental conditions and epidemics have a direct impact on birth and mortality rates.

Stage 2 of demographic transition includes the formation of permanent towns and societies all the way up to the industrialization and formation of large cities. During this time, food has become more abundant due to agriculture, and humans are less susceptible to famine. In addition, medicine and healthcare become available, and hygiene improves, resulting in a decline in the mortality rate; however, birth rates are still very high during Stage 2, while the mortality rate will begin to decline. The population will also begin to increase sharply at this point.

Stage 3 of the demographic transition is the continuation of Stage 2, where the birth rate has begun to decline sharply while the mortality rate continues to decline but has begun leveling off. The continued decline in the death rate can be attributed to the increased presence of healthcare and medical facilities in matured industrial societies. The sharp decline in birth rates is attributed to the increase in accessible education for women, which tends to happen in industrialized societies.

Low fertility rates lead to population decline, reductions in the labor force, a smaller tax base, and slowed economic growth. These results actually hurt social programs benefitting the elderly (e.g. social security), which are paid for by taxes that are incurred when people work and spend. In general, a smaller tax base, which is a consequence of low fertility rates, will not facilitate increased funding for social services of any kind.

The least-cost theory is attributed to Alfred Weber. The least-cost theory suggests that all major corporations make their decisions about where to house their production and manufacturing facilities based on the least possible combination of costs, so as to derive the greatest possible profit. It is instrumental for understanding the nature and decision making process of multinational corporations.

A “footloose company” is not tied to any particular location and can relocate in response to changing economic conditions. All of the products—except diamonds—are either going to cause the companies that produce and sell them to be either market or material oriented. This is because diamonds that are mined are the product that is sold by the company. In other words, there is no assembly required. Subsequently, there is no need to consider the relative merits of locating manufacturing centers closer to raw materials or large markets.

In the 1970s and 1980s most of the developed world transitioned from a primarily industrial economy to a service-based economy. This had many benefits for the people of the developed world, such as higher wages and safer working conditions, but also brought with it many difficulties. The demand for unspecialized and factory-based labor declined rapidly and dramatically, as those jobs were transitioned overseas. Many workers were too old, or too deprived of any higher education, to transition smoothly into a new working environment, and unemployment and social unrest were rife throughout the developed world as a result.

During the past half-century much of the developed world has experienced a process known as deindustrialization -factories and manufacturing centers have closed down in the United States of America, Western Europe, and Japan and those jobs have been outsourced to the developing world. This has led to the rise of “service-based economies” in the developed world. A “service-based economy” is an economy in which most of the workers are involved in providing services such as research, marketing, telecommunications, innovation, teaching, and so on.

During the late nineteenth and first half of the twentieth century the industrial center of the United States was the Midwest. Factories in Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, and Pennsylvania accounted for a disproportionate share of American industrial power. When, in the 1970s, American companies began to move their manufacturing centers abroad, the economy of the Midwest suffered dramatically. Unemployment rose very quickly and people began to migrate away from the region in search of work and a sustainable living situation. This has led the region to be called the “Rust Belt,” based on the rusting heavy machinery lying around throughout the Midwest. Cities like Detroit, Flint, Akron, and Toledo have felt this transition particularly extremely.

Economic restructuring is a phenomenon that has accelerated in the last part of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first century. Economic restructuring is the process in which economies move from a blue-collar industrial base, especially around heavy industry and factories, into more of a white-collar service sector. This process is typical in most major American cities, which has produced a thinner middle class and more menial jobs.

“E-commerce” refers to the use of the internet to sell goods and services that would traditionally have required going to an actual store. It began in the 1990s as the internet exploded into existence all around the developed world. Many prognosticators at the time predicted that E-commerce would completely replace actual stores in a very short space of time, however that has not been the case. Instead we have seen an integration of E-commerce into the existing economy - where some things are bought online and some things are bought in person.

In the second half of the twentieth century most of the major corporations of the world transitioned their manufacturing centers from the developed world (countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States of America) to the developing world (countries like India, Mexico, and Brazil). The primary reason behind this is because it is extremely cost effective for the companies- they have access to much cheaper labor and, often, lower tax rates and other benefits. The consequences of this movement are still being felt and understood, but it has involved the transition of the national economies of much of the world.

A “conglomerate corporation” is a company that is comprised of many smaller firms who all specialize in various aspects of the company’s product development and sale. So a large corporation might have different firms responsible for harvesting raw materials, manufacturing products for sale, transporting products to different markets, advertising and marketing, and so on. In the twenty-first century almost all major corporations are “conglomerate corporations.”

It has become common in recent years for companies to transfer service-based jobs, particular call centers, to other countries. This is called “outsourcing.” This is generally done because the company knows it can save money by paying the outsourced workers a lower wage to do the same job.

All of the American regions are correctly matched with their regional economic specialties except Hartford. Hartford is a city in Connecticut and has an extremely high concentration of insurance industries. It is not known for tourism.

E-commerce was the name given to any sales-related business conducted over the internet. When it first exploded in the 1990s, many economists expected E-commerce to completely eliminate and replace the business generated by actual in-person shops. These in-person shops are referred to as “brick and mortar businesses.” Instead, E-commerce has become an option available to consumers but not a replacement of traditional brick and mortar businesses.

Tertiary economic activities are activities in the service sector. Agriculture is a primary economic activity, focusing on use of natural resources.