Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Natural resources are “factors of production.” That is, they are employed along with labor and other forms of capital in producing goods and services. The economic geography of natural resources, the places of their production, and the places of their consumption, is fundamentally different from the economic geography of most other production factors. That difference results because unlike labor, unlike machines, and unlike buildings, natural resources actually exist as a form of interaction between the physical environment (nature) and society. This chapter takes up the economic geography of natural resources using a recurring theme: resources have technological and cultural contexts for their evaluation. That is, there are certain technological and/or social conditions that have to be met before a part of nature is considered valuable in production. The chapter begins with a basic overview of natural resource geographies, focusing on their recognition, classification, and description. The second part of the chapter turns to the analysis of the relative valuation of natural resources using the principle of economic rent, and considers the question of the supply and demand for resources in market economies. The role of technology in effecting economic rent and, therefore, natural resource supply is emphasized. Rent-maximizing behavior on the part of producers is a primary determinant ... log in or subscribe to read full text