Productive Resources

Location of Productive Resources The location of economic activity is based in part on where these resources are found. Physical geography plays a role in determining where many of the productive resources are found.

Natural Resources These are the materials from nature- minerals, plant fibers, animal products, and energy that go into making a good. This also includes rivers, lakes, and oceans that often make it possible to bring these materials together. Manufacturing is often located near these natural resources. For example, large amounts of coal are needed to make steel. In the United States, Western Pennsylvania has valuable coal deposits. For this reason, Pittsburgh became the center of the U.S. steel industry.

Climate This is another important factor in the location of natural resources. It greatly influences the crops that can be grown in an area. For example, the Caribbean islands experience warm temperatures with plentiful rainfall. This allows for crops such as sugar cane to be grown. In fact, during the 1700’s the Caribbean islands were known for using slaves to grow and process sugar cane in refineries to be shipped other areas of the world.

Human Resources Human resources are the people who actually provided the labor for the goods and services. When a nation has a highly skilled work force it positively affects the economy. For example, Japan lacks many natural resources, however, its population is highly educated and provides a large supply of skilled labor. This allows Japan to focus on manufacturing products such as electronics, and cars.

Infrastructure This is a type of capital resource. It is the investment that a society makes by building roads, railroad tracks, power plants, telephone and internet lines. This also includes how a society provides a system of law and order, money and banking, hospitals, and healthcare.

Questions 1.Explain how these four productive resources affect the economy and economic development of a nation. (4 sentences) 2.Choose one of the four productive resources that you believe is the most influential resource and explain why. 3.Explain what would occur in a nation if you were to remove and have a lack of one of the resources. For example, if you have a very small population in your nation.