| A | B |
|---|
| Acid deposition | Sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides; emitted by burning fossil fuels, that enter the atmosphere --where they combine with oxygen and water to form sulfuric acid and nitric acid-- and return to Earth's surface. |
| Acid precipitation | Conversion of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides to acids that return to Earth as rain, snow, or fog. |
| Agglomeration | A process involving the concentrating of people that benefit from close proximity because they share skilled labor pools and tech and financial amenities. |
| Air pollution | Concentration of trace substances, such as carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, and solid perticulates, at a greater level than occurs in average air. |
| Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) | The amount of oxygen required by aquatic bacteria to decompose a given load of organic waste; a measure of water pollution. |
| Break-of-bulk point | A location where transfer is possible from one mode of transportation to another. |
| Bulk-gaining industry | An industry in which the final product weighs more or comprises a greater volume than the inputs. |
| Bulk-reducing industry | An industry in which the final product weighs less or comprises a lower volume than the inputs. |
| Carrier efficiency | The ratio of output to input for a given transporter. |
| Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) | A gas used as a solvent, a propellant in aerosols, a refrigerant, and in plastic foams and fire extinguishers. |
| Comparative advantage | The ability of a party (an individual, a firm, or a country) to produce a particular good or service at a lower opportunity cost than another party. |
| Cottage industry | Manufacturing based in homes rather than in factories, commonly found prior to the Industrial Revolution. |
| Cumulative causation | A mechanism by which an output is enhanced. |
| Deglomeration | The process of industrial deconcentration in response to technological advances and/or increasing costs due to congestion and competition. |
| Deindustrialization | Process by which companies move industrial jobs to other regions with cheaper labor, leaving the newly vacated region to switch to a service economy and to work through a high period of high unemployment. |
| Economies of scale | The characteristics of a production process in which an increase in the scale of the firm causes a decrease in the long run average cost of each unit. |
| Entrepot | A warehouse, depot; a commercial center, a place where merchandise is sent for additional processing and distribution. |
| Export processing zone | Established by many countries in the periphery and semi-periphery where they offer favorable tax, regulatory and trade arrangements to attract foreign trade and investment. |
| Ferrous | Metals, including iron, that are utilized in the production of iron and steel. |
| Fixed costs | Business expenses that are not dependent on the activities of the business; tending to be time-related, such as salaries or rents being paid per month. |
| Footloose industry | An industry that can be placed and located at any location without effect from factors such as resources or transport. |
| Fordist production | A form of mass production in which each worker is assigned one specific task to perform repeatedly. |
| Greenhouse effect | The anticipated increase in Earth's temperature caused by carbon dioxide (emitted by burning fossil fuels) trapping some of the radiation emitted by the surface. |
| Industrial location theory | Theory that relates locational factors to the goals of the industry such as minimizing costs (least-cost location) or maximizing profits. |
| Industrial Revolution | A series of improvements in industrial technology that transformed the process of manufacturing goods. |
| Infrastructure | The basic physical and organizational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise, or the services and facilities necessary for an economy to function. |
| International division of labor | Economic specialization of cooperative labor in specific, circumscribed tasks and roles, intended to increase the productivity of labor around the world. |
| Just-in-time delivery | Shipment of parts and materials to arrive at a factory moments before they are needed. |
| Labor-intensive industry | An industry for which labor costs comprise a high percentage of total expenses. |
| Least-cost location | Location of manufacturing establishments is determined by the minimization of three critical expenses: labor, transportation and agglomeration. |
| Manufacturing export zones | A feature of economic development in peripheral countries whereby the host country establishes areas with favorable tax, regulatory and trade arrangements in order to attract foreign manufacturing operations. goods destined for global market. |
| Maquiladora | A factory built by a US company in Mexico near the US border, to take advantage of the much lower labor costs in Mexico. |
| Multiplier effect | The idea that an initial amount of spending (usually by the government) leads to increased consumption spending and so results in an increase in national income greater than the initial amount of spending. |
| Nonferrous | Metals utilized to make products other than iron and steel. |
| Nonpoint-source pollution | Pollution that originates from a large, diffuse area. |
| Outsourcing | A decision by a corporation to turn over much of the responsibility for production to independent suppliers. |
| Ozone | A gas that absorbs ultraviolet solar radiation, found in the stratosphere, a zone 15 to 50 kilometers (9 to 30 miles) above Earth's surface. |
| Photochemical smog | An atmospheric condition formed through a combination of weather conditions and pollutions, especially from motor vehicle emissions. |
| Point-source pollution | Pollution that enters a body of water from a specific source. |
| Post-Fordist production | Adoption by companies of flexible work rules, such as the allocation of workers to teams that perform a variety of tasks. |
| Postindustrial | A society in which an economic transition has occurred from a manufacturing based economy to a service based economy, a diffusion of national and global capital, and mass privatization. |
| Right-to-work laws | A US law that prevents a union and a company from negotiating a contract that requires workers to join the union as a condition of employment. |
| Sanitary landfill | A place to deposit solid waste, where a layer of earth is bulldozed over garbage each day to reduce emissions of gases and odors from the decaying trash, to minimize fires, and to discourage vermin. |
| Site factors | Location factors related to the costs of factors of production inside a plant, such as land, labor, and capital. |
| Situation factors | Location factors related to the transportation of materials into and from a factory. |
| Special Economic Zones | A geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country's typical economic laws |
| Substitution principle | Focused on alternatives for a product, service, or process that is more efficient or beneficial in some way while retaining the same functionality. |
| Textile | A fabric made by weaving, used in making clothing. |
| Topocide | The deliberate killing of a place through industrial expansion and change, so that its earlier landscape and character are destroyed. |
| Trade | The commercial exchange (buying and selling on domestic or international markets) of goods and services. |
| Ubiquitous | The state of being everywhere at any given time. |
| Variable costs | Costs that change directly with the amount of production. |
| Vertical integration | An approach typical of traditional mass production in which a company controls all phases of a highly complex production process. |
| Weber, Alfred | A German economist, sociologist and theoretician of culture whose work was influential in the development of modern economic geography; developed least cost location theory. |
