Economic Activities and Regional Development Questions and Answers

Answer: B

The correct statement is that development is determined by the nature of relationship between the developed core and the underdeveloped periphery.

John Friedmann's core-periphery model (1966) explains regional development through the dominance of a core region over its periphery: the core attracts capital, labour and innovation from the periphery, and the relationship between them shapes how development spreads.

Circular causation with upward or downward spirals is Myrdal's cumulative causation, the satellite status of subsidiary metropolises comes from Frank's dependency theory, and the stress on spread rather than backwash effects belongs to other growth theorists.

Answer: C

The primary aim is rational land use planning.

Measuring agricultural productivity, the output per unit of land or input, shows which areas are performing well and which are lagging. Planners use those measurements to decide which crops suit which land, where to invest in irrigation and inputs, and how to use land more efficiently.

Productivity measurement may reveal economic disparities, but revealing them is not its purpose. Cultural preservation and urbanisation are not what agricultural productivity indices are designed for.

Answer: C

The correct matching is a-(3), b-(1), c-(2), d-(4).

• Agro-based: cotton textiles, which use raw cotton from farms (3).
• Mineral-based: cement, made from limestone and gypsum (1).
• Pastoral-based: dairy, based on livestock (2).
• Forest-based: paper and cardboard, made from wood pulp and bamboo (4).

The other codes give cement to agriculture or paper to the pastoral group, which does not match the source of the raw material.

Answer: C

Pred's work was Behaviour and Location.

Allan Pred's Behavior and Location: Foundations for a Geographic and Dynamic Location Theory (1967 and 1969) challenged the 'economic man' of classical location theory. His behavioural matrix ranked decision-makers by the quantity and quality of information they had and by their ability to use it, explaining why real firms choose locations that are not optimal.

The other titles rearrange the same words but are not the name of his work.

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-(2), b-(1), c-(4), d-(3).

• Eastern Asia: the Kwanto (Kanto) region around Tokyo and Yokohama, Japan's leading industrial district (2).
• Eastern Europe: the Moscow-Ivanovo-Gorky-Tula region, the central industrial region of Russia (1).
• Western and Central Europe: the Lancashire region of England, the historic cotton textile district (4).
• Eastern Anglo-America: the north-eastern United States and adjacent parts of Canada, the American manufacturing belt (3).

The other codes misplace Kwanto or Lancashire.

Answer: C

Underdeveloped regions are exploited by core regions.

Dependency theory, associated with Andre Gunder Frank and others, argues that underdevelopment is not an original state but the result of a world economy in which rich core countries or regions extract raw materials, cheap labour and profits from poor peripheral regions. The periphery's dependence keeps it underdeveloped.

The peripheral regions are the exploited, not the exploiters. Economic blocks and functional regions are not the agents the theory names.

Answer: D

Regional disparities may result from the core-periphery relationship.

In models such as Friedmann's core-periphery model and Myrdal's cumulative causation, capital, skilled labour and enterprise flow towards a dynamic core, which grows at the expense of the surrounding periphery (backwash effects). This draining of resources widens regional disparities.

Balanced growth strategies are designed to reduce disparities, not cause them. Strict physical boundaries and homogeneous cultural practices are not recognised causes of uneven economic development.

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-(2), b-(3), c-(1).

Natural factors affect productivity through weather variations, such as rainfall, temperature and droughts (a-2). Human interventions raise productivity through irrigation and the adoption of technology such as high-yielding seeds, fertilisers and machinery (b-3). Market forces work through price fluctuations, which affect what farmers grow and how much they invest (c-1).

The second and third codes swap weather with irrigation or with prices, and since a correct code is offered, 'None of the above' is wrong.

Answer: B

The concept means that growth is not ubiquitous; it occurs at poles, centres and points with variable intensities.

Francois Perroux (1955) argued that growth does not appear everywhere at once. It appears at growth poles, in propulsive industries or centres, with different intensities, and spreads through various channels to the rest of the economy. His poles were originally points in economic space, later applied to geographical centres by others such as Boudeville.

Growth spreading from the CBD describes urban structure models. Growth tied to management, or to decisions by a central authority, is not Perroux's concept.

Answer: B

These are overhead costs (terminal costs).

Transport costs fall into two parts. Overhead or terminal costs are the fixed costs of providing the system: terminals, docks, stations, track, ships and vehicles, repair shops and offices, and the loading and unloading of goods. They are incurred whatever the distance travelled.

Line-haul costs are the costs of actually moving goods over distance, such as fuel and crew wages, and rise with distance. Transfer costs arise when goods change from one mode to another, and commodity costs are not a category of transport cost.