GEOG 3133     Economic Geography     Ziehr

STUDY QUESTIONS FOR EXAM 2: Tuesday, November 2, 2004


The exam will cover chapters 5, 6, 12, 13, and 14 in the Wheeler, Muller, Thrall, and Fik text and all lecture material and handouts since the first exam. Careful study of the conceptual, source material regarding the following questions will provide significant preparation for the exam. However, this collection of questions is NOT intended to be all-inclusive of the exact content or form that questions may take on the exam.

1. Be aware of general energy consumption trends worldwide, especially the relationship between different economic systems and energy.

2. Over the last 150 years discuss the major changes in dominant energy sources within the U.S. Note the environmental, economic, transportation, technology, and cultural, and spatial implications of these changes.

3. What are the five major factors that have led to the current U.S. energy situation? How do these factors interrelate?

4. Be able to discuss the environmental, economic, transportation, technology, and cultural, and location implications of the following "alternative" energy sources: coal, solar, nuclear, and goppitywap. "Alternative" is used here to mean that one of these energy sources would take the place of the current dominant energy source.

5. How have energy corporations and the environmental movement influenced the current world energy situation.

6. Be able to describe the factors that combined to produce the 1973-1974 OPEC oil embargo.

7. What is OPEC, and what countries are members of OPEC?

8. What is coal slurry? Where is it being used in the U.S. today?

9. What is the primary energy source for the production of electricity in the U.S. today? What are some of the location and environmental consequences of this fact.

10. Be able to analyze (from an economic geographer's perspective) the spatial distribution of U.S. electricity production by source shown in Figure 12.12 of the text.

11. Discuss the impact of the number of steps in the production of energy on the efficiency of a given energy technology.

12. List and describe five physical and human location factors that affect agriculture.

13. Be thoroughly familiar with von Thünen's agricultural location theory including his assumptions, operating variables, diagrammatic portrayal of the model, and theoretic land use patterns.

14. What alterations or limitations must be included to be able to apply von Thünen's theory to the spatial distribution of agriculture in the U.S.?

15. Be able to analyze (from an economic geographer's perspective) the spatial distribution of U.S. agricultural production including truck farming, dairy belt, corn belt, wheat belts, and livestock grazing.

16. Explain the effects of terminal costs and line-haul costs on the location of an economic activity.

17. Define and explain the locational consequences of these freight rate systems: base-point pricing, f.o.b., and c.i.f.

18. Explain the logic behind and the application of Reilly's "law" of retail gravitation.

19. What is a break-of-bulk point in a transportation context?

20.  Explain Ullman's model of the necessary conditions for spatial interaction.  Illustrate your answer with a specific example of spatial interaction.

Last revised October 20, 2004.