edexcel gcse geography unit 3 economic change
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Economic Change
Unit 3
Economic SectorsAn economy of our country is divided up into different categories. Each category is called a sector and involves a different type of activity
Primary sector – working with natural resources e.g. farming, fishing, mining
Secondary sector – making things either by manufacturing them or constructing them e.g. car factory or builder
Tertiary sector – provides a service. This includes commercial (shops and banks), professional (lawyers and dentists) social, (schools and hospitals), entertainment (restaurants and cinemas) and personal (hairdressers and fitness trainers).
Quaternary – very new and mainly found in HICs it is concerned with information, communication technology and pharmaceuticals (the designing of new medicines).
Clarke-Fisher ModelThis shows how economic sectors change as a country becomes more developed. Most countries start off with a very high percentage of employment in the primary sector, before becoming more developed and industrial. Primary jobs give way to secondary work. As the country improves and education improves more and more people are able to go into the more skilled tertiary jobs which pay better and so the primary and secondary sectors decline.
Balance of Economic Sectors for typical LIC, MIC and HIC
Decline in the UK Primary SectorAgriculture• Cheaper imports - The UK produces less than 60% of its own food because its cheaper to
import from abroad• Mechanisation – a single combine harvester can do in a day what it used to take tens of
men to do in a week• Agribusiness – Small family farms have gone out of business and been bought up by much
larger commercial farms
Fishing• Over fishing – fish stocks have massively decreased due to mechanisation meaning it is
easy to locate and catch a whole shoal of fish.• Fishing Quotas – these are laws about how much fish you are allowed to catch. If you
catch more than this then you have to pay a fine.
Mining• Resource depletion – most of the coal in this country has been taken out of the ground so
mines have closed.• Cheaper imports – its cheaper to import coal from Russia• Reduced demand - modern power stations now run on natural gas not coal.• Environmental concerns – coal is the most polluting of all the fossil fuels
Decline in the Secondary SectorFactories in the UK have closed down and moved abroad because;• There is cheaper land and labour in poorer parts of the world• Less concerns about factories environmental impacts• Fast, cheap and efficient transport means it doesn’t really matter
where you manufacture your products anymore• The global superhighway created by modern communication networks
means employers can transfer information across the world at a click of a button.• Globalisation means every country is connected to one huge global economy. Each country has a part to play whether it is supplying raw materials or being part of the consumer marker.
Case Study: Rise of industrial nations - Made in China
Reasons for growth• Global demand for cheaply manufactured goods• Investment by foreign companies such as Apple• Not many laws to stop factories from growing rapidly• Large labour force – China’s population is 1.3 billion• Cheap labour – no minimum wage until 2013• Rich in natural resourcesResults of growth• China now produces;• Half the world’s clothes• Two thirds of the world’s shoes• One third of all mobile phones• Two thirds of all photocopies• Half the microwaves
Thanks to these industries China is now the 3rd largest economy in the world. Between 1995 and 2005 China’s economy grew by approximately 12% every year. This is compared to the UK whose economy grew by 3% every year during the same time period.
Costs and Benefits of being an Industrial Nation
Costs Benefits
• Damage to the environment caused by working with natural resources
• Having to find new reserves of raw materials as they run out
• Much pollution of air, water and land
• Massive rural to urban migration as people leave the countryside for jobs in factories
• A widening gap between the very rich and very poor.
• Better wages • Better standard of living• Improved working conditions in
some cases• Country makes more money• Better housing in cities
Growth of the Tertiary Sector
More personal income
More personal spending
More demand for goods and
services
Tertiary sector growth
More and better jobs
Over the past 50 years, as the tertiary sector has grown, the services have changed:• There are more of them as
population and disposable income have increased
• Advances in technology have led to new services
• Peoples tastes have changed – cinemas have closed because people watch DVD’s at home
• Bigger demand for services for the elderly as people live longer.
The Grey Pound• The UK population is getting older• 17% of them are over 64• The rate of spending for this age
group is set to rise faster than any other.
• Saga is now a multi-million pound business only available to over 50s offering cut price holidays as well as car, holiday and pet insurance.
• B&Q has also started selling products for over 50s including stair lifts and special gardening tools
• L’Oreal now uses 70 year old actress Jane Fonda to sell its products to the older generation.
Economic Locations – Power Stations
Locating a power station• Power stations need two things; fuel and water• They are also huge buildings that need a lot of space• Not so long ago power stations were burning coal and so were located near the
coal mines.• More recently power stations have been burning oil which comes from either
the North Sea or abroad so it makes sense to put them near the coast• Since the 1990’s there has been a ‘dash for gas’ and gas fuelled power stations
now supply 40% of the countries electricity. These are often built on the sites of old coal power stations.
There are two types of location factor – physical e.g. land and water and economic e.g. cost of land, fuel and where they sell to (the market)
The locations of economic activity can change over time, particularly as a result of new technology
Economic Locations – Supermarkets
Locating a supermarket• New supermarkets spring up on the edges of towns and
cities where there is plenty of space to display goods and also for car parks.
• Edges of towns mean they are easily reachable by car but don’t suffer from traffic congestion like the city centre
The location of shops has changed a lot in the last 50 years moving from the urban city centre to the rural urban fringe
The reason for this shift is linked to accessibility, the rise of big supermarkets and changes in lifestyle.
Case Study of Economic Location – Shepton MalletPast• In the 17th and 18th century the main industry in Shepton Mallet was primary and
secondary.• The Mendips were the perfect environment for sheep farming• Factories were set up to produce wool and cloth. Clarkes shoe factory was also located
here.• However, when mechanisation happened it became too expensive to compete with the
cheaper labour over seas and the facotries relocated abroad.Present• The main employers of Shepton now are secondary and teriary.• There are 2 cider factories; Blackthorn, and Gaymers as well as Frampton’s which is a
packaging factory.• Teriary sector employment mostly comes in the form of retail. Tescos has replaced the
old Clarkes factory site turning it from secondary to teriary employment as well as a new retail park in this area.
Future• In the future Shepton will become increasingly more and more teriary. Factory jobs will
be replaced by office jobs as companies take advantage of the cheap brownfield land in the middle of town.
• In addition to this Shepton will begin to cash in on the tourism aspect of the Mendips which is an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Costs and Benefits of Deindustrialisation
Deindustrialisation is when factories close and/or move away. This brings both costs and benefits
Costs Benefits
• Loss of jobs• Break up of rural communities
as people move to towns and cities to find work
• Disused buildings scar the landscape
• The need to clean up old industrial sites to stop pollution
• Less environmental pollution• Old industry buildings can be
made into tourist attractions• The opportunity to remove ugly
buildings from the landscape• The chance to return land to
farming • Create wildlife habitats• Can use brownfield sites for
new housing.
Case Study – Deindustrialisation of Cotswold Gravel Pits
Industrial past• Deposits of gravel are widespread in rural areas, particularly on river flood plains. • The gravel is extracted by digging a hole in the ground called a pit. • The water table is so high near a river, 50 years ago the first quarries were dug 'wet'.• The gravel deposits range in depth from a few centimeters to 6 metres, and begin about 1 metre below the
surface. • Since the deposits of gravel are quite thin they quickly become exhausted (no more material left) and the
industry moves on.
A future in tourism• There are three options for the abandoned pit:• Leave the pit as it is and let it become a wildlife area• Make the pit into a water sports area for use by local people• Fill it up with rubbish and rubble and convert it into usable land – perhaps for housing
• At the Cotswold Water Park the pits are lined with clay, which make great habitats for wildlife such as aquatic plants and fish.
• Planting of the lake edges with reeds often takes place in order to soften the profile and create more excellent places where wildlife can thrive.
• It is an area of 40 square miles and 150 lakes.• There is lakeside holiday accommodation• 100km of footpaths and cycle routes • Since 1967 it has grown to become a major tourist destination in its own right, attracting more than
500,000 visitors every year.
Cotswold Water Park
