ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES

UNIT 1 AND GEOGRAPHICAL

SPACES
UNIT 1: Economic activities
and geographical spaces UNIT 1. INDEX

1.- ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, 2.- ECONOMIC AGENTS AND

COMPONENTS AND SECTORS THEIR RELATIONSHIPS
1.1. Economic activity 2.1. Businesses
1.2. Components of economic 2.2. Families and the state
activity
1.3. Sectors of economic activity

3.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: RESOURCES,

CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY
3.1. Natural resources
3.2. Capital and technology
UNIT 1: Economic activities
and geographical spaces UNIT 1. INDEX

4.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: 5.- ECONOMIC SYSTEMS

LABOUR 5.1. Capitalist system
4.1. The employment situation 5.2. Socialist system
4.2. The labour market 5.3. Mixed systems
4.3. Labour problems
1.ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, COMPONENTS AND
SECTORS
1.1. ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Economic activity is the combination of tasks undertaken by people in order to obtain the
goods required to meet their needs. These goods can be material, such as food,
manufactured items and cars; or immaterial (services), such as education and healthcare.
1.ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, COMPONENTS AND
SECTORS
1.2. COMPONENTS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Economic activity includes three basic components that enable people to meet their needs:
the production, distribution and consumption of goods.
1.- Production is the combined number of goods that result from
economic activity.
2.- Distribution consists of the transfer of products to consumers and
their sale on the market, or a place where producers and consumers
meet.
3.-Consumption is the use of the goods that result from production.
1 PRODUCTION
Combination of natural resources, skills
and labour

CONSUMER GOODS:
satisfy needs of the consumer (clothes, food, etc)

INTERMEDIATE GOODS:
Used to manufacture consumer goods (machines,
tools, etc)

*Provision of some services such as healthcare

and public transport requires the creation and
organization of hospitals or transport networks
2 DISTRIBUTION
After production, the next phase is the delivery to the consumer, involving the
storage, transport, marketing and sale of goods

WHOLESALE:
Wholesalers buy a large number of products and
sell them to companies

RETAIL:
Retailers buy a small number of goods from
wholesalers and sell them directly to individual
consumers
3 CONSUMPTION
The buying of goods and services allows people to satisfy their needs
Human
needs
1.ECONOMIC ACTIVITY, COMPONENTS AND
SECTORS
1.3. SECTORS OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY
Economic activity covers a great range of activities. These are usually grouped into three
economic sectors:
• The primary sector includes activities concerned with the extraction of raw materials and
natural resources. These are agriculture, livestock farming, forestry and fishing.
• The secondary sector includes activities concerned with transforming the natural resources
provided by the primary sector such as industry and construction.
• The tertiary sector comprises activities that provide services, non-material goods. These
include transport, tourism, trade, education and health care, etc.

The importance of the three economic sectors for employment and Gross Domestic Product
(GDP), or in other words a country’s combined wealth, reveals major contrasts around the
world.
1 PRIMARY SECTOR Production of raw materials and food

AGRICULTURE LIVESTOCK FARMING

FORESTRY FISHING
2 SECONDARY SECTOR Activities that transform raw materials in
manufactured products through industrial
process
MINING

INDUSTRY

CONSTRUCTION

EXPLOTATION OF
ENERGY SOURCES
3 TERTIARY SECTOR It does not produce material goods, but
services. It includes a large variety of
activities

HEALTHCARE

SHOPS

LAW
4 QUATERNARY SECTOR New sector linked to services with a
high level of expertise. It requires an
advanced use of technology

MASS MEDIA

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

COMPUTING
 2. ECONOMIC AGENTS AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIPS
Subjects responsible for undertaking economic activity. These subjects are businesses, families
and the State. They form relationships with one another and thereby form an economic circuit, in
which they exchange labour, goods and services for payment.
ECONOMIC AGENTS
People / families Businesses
Main agents of consumption Main agents of production and
dedicating most of their distribution, using labour and
economic resources to buy capital and manufacturing,
goods and services marketing and distributing
goods and services

State
This sector includes the
economic and social activities
(public administration, public
services, social provisions) of
the state. These activities are
funded with citizens and
companies’ taxes
 2. ECONOMIC AGENTS AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIPS
2.1. BUSINESSES
Businesses are the basic units for the production of economic goods. Their function is to
produce, distribute and sell goods to consumers, and their aim is to obtain economic profit.
There are various types of businesses. They are often grouped according to:
• Their size. Distinctions are drawn between small (up to 50 employees), medium (50-250
people) and large-sized businesses (more than 250 workers)
• Capital ownership.
.Public enterprises, in which the capital involved is provided by the State.
.Private businesses, in which the capital is privately owned.
.Mixed businesses, which combine public and private capital.
• Social organisation. This allows distinctions to be drawn between businesses belonging to
individuals and groups of people: The latter can take a variety of forms: public limited
companies (P.L.C.) in which capital is divided into shares; limited companies (Ltd.), in which
the capital is provided by a number of partners; and cooperatives, which are collectively
managed by the partners who provide the capital.
 2. ECONOMIC AGENTS AND THEIR
RELATIONSHIPS
2.2. FAMILIES
Families are the basic units of consumption. Their function is to spend money on the
acquisition of goods with the aim of satisfying their needs. Within the economic circuit, they
sell their labour to companies on the labour market. In exchange, they earn a salary, which they
use to pay for the goods they buy from companies, as well as the taxes levied by the State.

2.3. STATE
The State is a unit of production and consumption. Its functions are to use its enterprises to
produce material goods and public services that are needed by all society, and to consume
goods and services from private companies. The aim of the state is to provide welfare.
Within the economic circuit, the State provides companies and families with goods and
services (infrastructures, assistance, funding, pensions, sickness and unemployment benefits,
etc.), employs public employees and levies taxes from families and businesses.
 3.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: RESOURCES, CAPITAL
AND TECHNOLOGY
3.1. NATURAL RESOURCES
Natural resources are elements provided by nature that have an economic use: water, the
atmosphere, the soil, plants, animals, minerals and energy sources. The exploitation of these
resources gives rise to the basic economic activities: agriculture, forestry, livestock farming,
fishing, mining and both energy and industrial production.

TYPES OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Depending on how long they last, resources can be:
-Renewable, if they can be renewed over a short period of time (water).
-Non-renewable, if their renewal requires long periods of time, for example coal or oil.
NATURAL RESOURCES

Nature gives us elements that, when transformed, can satisfy the needs of human society.
These resources are limited, so if there is an overexplotation, they could run out
 3.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: RESOURCES, CAPITAL
AND TECHNOLOGY
3.1. NATURAL RESOURCES
PROBLEMS RAISED BY RESOURCES
-Exhaustion and overuse. If consumed at a higher rate than that of their renewal, some
resources run the risk of being exhausted or overused. To avoid this problem, it is necessary to
use them according to the principle of sustainable development (efficient use, recycling, etc).
-International conflicts. The desire to control limited natural resources leads to wars and
international conflicts.
 3.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: RESOURCES, CAPITAL
AND TECHNOLOGY
3.2. CAPITAL AND TECHNOLOGY
Capital is the combination of non-natural resources needed for production. It includes physical
capital (factories and machinery); financial capital (money or credit); and human capital
(workers).

Technology is the combination of knowledge, methods and procedures used in the production
process. It can be manual, mechanized or robotized.
 CAPITAL
All the resources used to produce goods or services

PHYSICAL CAPITAL
In this part, It includes the physical elements of the economic activity (land where the business is
built, construction and maintenance of the premises, machinery, raw materials) required for the
production of goods and services. Economic investment is necessary

FINANCIAL CAPITAL
Money needed to start production, including loans from banks.
 TECHNOLOGY
Production of goods or services requires the use of technology

MANUAL PRODUCTION

MECHANICAL PRODUCTION

HIGH-TECH PRODUCTION
 LABOUR
Human activity (physical or intellectual) required to produce goods or provide services,
necessary for people and society
 4.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: LABOUR
4.1. THE EMPLOYMENT SITUATION
Labour is the physical or intellectual effort made by people in order to produce material goods
and services. It is an essential factor for production.
With regard to work and employment, the population is divided into an active and inactive
population.

The labour force is made up of the combination of people who are in paid work (employed
population), and those that are available to undertake such work (unemployed population).
The inactive population includes people who neither undertake, nor are available to undertake
paid work (pensioners, landlords, students and people with domestic duties).
The labour force participation rate is the percentage of the active population in relation to the
total working-age population.
 4.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: LABOUR
4.2. THE LABOUR MARKET
The labour market is formed by the supply of work from
businesses, and the demand for work from individuals. In the
labour market, there is a low number of qualified or well-
trained individuals. Therefore, their salaries tend to be higher
and their employment more stable than the less qualified
workers, who are more numerous.
 4.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: LABOUR
4.3. LABOUR PROBLEMS
UNEMPLOYMENT
Unemployment is a serious problem that worsens during periods of crisis.
In developed countries, this is due to the automation of work and the transfer of economic
activities to cheaper locations. In underdeveloped countries, it is due to economic
underdevelopment and the lack of professional training.
The unemployment reduces the State’s income, because it collects less taxes and has to
increase expenditure on unemployment benefits, and it reduces individuals’ income, lowering
levels of consumption, sales and production.
 4.- PRODUCTION FACTORS: LABOUR
4.3. LABOUR PROBLEMS
WORKING CONDITIONS
In advanced countries, these conditions are well regulated by the States’ labour laws, and also
by collective labour agreements made between employers’ associations and workers’ unions,
and by job contracts signed between an employee and their employer.
In other countries, in contrast, numerous abuses may occur such as:
-Child labour.
-Employment discrimination against women.
-Denial of workers’ basic rights (minimum salary, union rights, etc.).
5.- ECONOMIC
SYSTEMS
 5.- ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
5.1. CAPITALIST SYSTEM
In the capitalist system, economic activity is regulated by the market, which is why it is also
known as the market economy. The market, which is governed by the law of supply and
demand, determines what is to be produced on the basis of the current demand for goods or
services; how to produce goods, so that businesses achieve the highest economic profit and
who to produce them for, so products are produced for those who can pay for them.

Other basic principles of the system are the predominance of private property, the free
circulation of individuals and commodities, free competition between companies, and the
search for maximum individual profit. Today, the capitalist system has been adopted by the
majority of the world’s countries.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS:
THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM
VIDEO (What is Capitalism?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azVxrMIxbJU
 5.- ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
5.2. SOCIALIST SYSTEM
In the socialist system, economic activity is regulated by the State, through plans that
businesses are obliged to comply with, which is why it is also known as a planned economy.

The State decides what to produce, how to produce it and who to produce it for and sets
product prices and workers’ salaries.

Other basic principles of the system are state ownership of companies and the means of
production, economic planning by the State, and the achievement of social equality. Today,
this system only survives in countries such as Cuba or North Korea.
 5.- ECONOMIC SYSTEMS
5.3. MIXED SYSTEM
Mixed systems combine a market economy with State economic intervention, as is the case
with what is known as the welfare state.

In these systems, the market and State decide what to produce, how to produce it and who to
produce it for. Although market prices result in products only being for those that can afford
them, State intervention guarantees that the basic needs of all citizens are provided for.

Other basic principles are private property, although there are also public enterprises, and the
search for the maximum individual profit, as well as adopting measures to redistribute wealth.
Today, the mixed systems operate in many countries in the world, especially in Europe.
ECONOMIC SYSTEMS:
MIXED ECONOMY