Economic and Resource Geography
Core concepts
Economic geography explains why production locates where it does and how resources shape development. Know sectoral classification (primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, quinary) and the shift in employment structure with development. Study classical location theory: Weber's least-cost industrial location (transport, labour, agglomeration), Losch's demand-based model, Von Thunen's agricultural rings, and growth-pole and core-periphery theory. Understand resources: renewable versus non-renewable, potential versus actual reserves, the resource curse, and carrying capacity. Energy geography matters for Bangladesh: natural gas dominance, coal reserves at Barapukuria, and rising solar and LNG imports. Trade theory should include absolute and comparative advantage, terms of trade, and export processing zones. Also cover transport networks, containerisation, and the geography of global value chains.
Traps
Do not treat all minerals as reserves: a reserve is economically extractable with current technology. Weber's model minimises total cost, not revenue, and assumes fixed demand and uniform transport. Another trap is confusing comparative advantage with absolute advantage, or describing Von Thunen's rings from the market outward in the wrong order (intensive dairying and horticulture come first).
Worked example
Two regions: A produces 10 units of rice or 5 of cloth per worker-day; B produces 8 rice or 4 cloth. Rule of thumb: compare opportunity costs. A's cloth cost = 2 rice; B's cloth cost = 2 rice, so there is no comparative gain from specialisation; only absolute advantage (A in both) exists. If the ratios differed, specialise where opportunity cost is lower.