Economic Activity Concentration Quiz

The concept that increased productivity leads to greater specialization, resulting in a larger market and even more productivity.

The idea that geographical features, like access to coastlines and navigable rivers, contribute to a country's economic growth. Countries with these features tend to have larger markets, more trade, and more specialization.

The concept that countries with access to the sea experience faster economic growth due to increased trade, migration, and a larger market size.

The idea that geographic factors, like access to the sea, influence a country's economic growth by fostering specialization and increasing the size of the market.

The study of how geographic features, like the orientation of continents, influence the spread of ideas and technologies.

The phenomenon where countries become more successful and richer due to factors like geographical advantage, leading to a widening gap between them and less fortunate countries.

A process where a country's economic development leads to further development and growth.

The idea that countries with access to the sea can benefit from increased trade, migration, and specialization.

A situation where countries with better geographic features experience faster growth, while those without such advantages lag behind.

The concept that landlocked countries tend to experience slower economic growth due to limited access to trade and markets.

The cost of transportation is inversely proportional to the economic size of a country. This means that as a country's economy grows, transportation costs tend to decrease.

A multiplicative function is used when factors are imperfect substitutes, meaning they can't fully replace each other. An example is how different modes of transportation like trains, trucks, and ships each have their own strengths and weaknesses.

Zipf's law describes the relationship between city size and the number of cities of that size. It states that larger cities are less common than smaller cities. This can be visualized as a straight line on a graph.

The Pareto distribution, also known as the 80/20 rule, describes how wealth is unevenly distributed. Zipf's law suggests that city sizes follow this pattern.

The Pareto exponent in Zipf's law usually reflects the inequality in city size distribution. A value of 1 indicates a perfect equality, while a value below 1 indicates greater inequality.

The OLS (Ordinary Least Squares) method is a statistical technique used to estimate the Pareto exponent. It has shown that Zipf's law doesn't always hold true, especially for urban agglomerations, which tend to have lower exponents than smaller cities.

The Hill estimator is another method for calculating the Pareto exponent. It has also found that Zipf's law doesn't perfectly apply in all cases, but it tends to disagree with the OLS method for fewer countries.

The variation in the Pareto exponent across different countries can be explained by various factors like geographic location, economic development, and government policies.

The concept that firms locate near each other to reduce transportation costs for inputs and outputs, leading to increased efficiency.

The idea that as technology improves, the need for firms to be geographically close decreases, allowing for more dispersed operations.

A classical model of economic location, focusing on minimizing transportation costs for inputs and outputs, which influences optimal firm locations.

The idea that firms may choose locations based on factors like the availability of specialized labor, infrastructure, or government support, even if transportation costs are higher.

The idea that a firm's location can be influenced by the presence of other firms in the same industry, leading to agglomeration and specialization.

The concept that firms choose to locate in areas with existing infrastructure, skilled labor, and proximity to suppliers, reducing the initial costs of setting up operations.

The idea that firms might choose locations with favorable regulatory environments, access to government support, or tax advantages.

The notion that firms may locate near research institutions or universities to access talent, knowledge, and innovation.

A method for identifying the optimal location for a production unit, considering the costs of transporting raw materials and finished goods.

The cost of transporting raw materials from their source to the production unit.

The cost of transporting finished goods from the production unit to the market.

The cost of labor, land, and other inputs that are specific to a particular location.

A framework used to visually analyze the least cost location based on weights representing raw materials and products.

The force that attracts businesses to cluster together in a specific area, leading to shared resources, expertise, and lower costs.

The concept that businesses move to locations with cheaper labor costs, even if it means higher transportation costs.

The assumption that businesses operate in a perfect market with no strategic interaction or demand variation.

The process where businesses in similar industries concentrate in a specific location, leading to increased efficiency and specialization.

A type of industry that benefits from being large-scale, meaning the bigger it is, the more competitive it becomes.

The tendency for economic activity to become concentrated in certain regions, leading to disparities in development and innovation.

The movement of people from one region to another within a country, often driven by economic opportunities.

Economists who argue that certain barriers prevent a completely integrated European economy, despite the push for unification.

A classification system for different industries based on their characteristics, including scale intensity and technology.

A measure of how unevenly an industry is distributed across a country. It compares the share of an industry's production in a region with the share of total manufacturing in that region. A higher Gini coefficient indicates greater concentration of the industry.

The share of an industry's production in a specific region, relative to the total manufacturing output of that region. A high share indicates specialization in that industry.

The share of a region's production in a particular industry, compared to the total production of that industry across all regions. A higher share indicates concentration of the industry in that region.

A measure of how much an industry is spread out or clustered in a country. It compares each region's share of an industry's production with its share of total manufacturing.

A situation where a small number of industries are responsible for a large share of a region's production. This can be measured for production, exports, or trade.

A measure of how much an industry's production is concentrated in specific regions. A higher concentration indicates that most production occurs in a few key places.

A measure of how dispersed an industry is across a country. This is often visualized as a broken line on a graph, comparing the cumulative share of an industry's production to the cumulative share of total manufacturing.

The share of an industry in a specific region compared to the share of the same industry in the entire country. It measures how specialized a region is in that industry.

The concept that a region's specialization in an industry can influence the concentration of that industry in the region. For example, a region specialized in paper production may experience a concentration of paper industries.

The concept of a region being 'specialized' means it has a significant share of an industry's production relative to its total manufacturing output. This differs from 'industrial concentration,' which refers to the geographic distribution of an industry.