Chapter 20
Economics and Geography
In this chapter, we'll cover economics, statistics, geography, the environment, and human geography.
ECONOMICS
Economics is not just the study of money—it's the study of how a society meets its needs through the production and distribution of goods and services.
How successful a country is in meeting its needs is a function of many interconnected things such as the following:
Natural resources: Every country has some natural resources. Some have oil or valuable metal deposits in their lands, others have rich farmland, and others have miles of coastline that can be used for fishing or shipbuilding.
The labor pool: Are the country's workers highly skilled or uneducated? Are there enough workers to meet the needs of production, or are there too many, leaving some unemployed?
The industrial base: Does a country have the technical know-how, the factories, and the ability to raise money to acquire new knowledge and new factories?