Study Questions/Exercises/Tips:

1. The age structure of a population has an impact on economic development of the area in which the population exists. The discussions over the last several years about the future of Social Security in the United States with the fast approaching retirements of "baby boomers" is a case in point. What are some possible geographic implications of these "impacts?"

2. If you were going to invest based on the information in Figure 2.40 (pg 99, the solid black line is the S&P500 and the shaded area is births "lagged forward") what strategies would you employ over 5 year increments out to the year 2040 (when you'll be about 60)? (I know the phrase "lagged forward" is truly bizarre but it basically means pushing the births to the right on the graph so that the S&P is matched with the births of the people who are then 47-49 years old. The shaded area at the right end of the black line refers to those people who were born around 1950.)

3. Now, what would you be planning for in the same time period as #2 if you are a fresh new city planner?

4. The "tragedy of the commons" is not a play by Shakespeare or Wilde. Can you describe a modern example of the idea?

Commentary on the third week readings:

The section on TM is 1) too big and 2) not well integrated. It is essentially a list of questions that are of interest to someone but usually not all at once. On a more local front, there is a company based in Ann Arbor called Thompson Associates (they also have an office in Pleasanton, CA) which does site selection research for a large number of companies. Check out their website:

The text's discussion of "resources" is limited, so be sure to link my lectures to the text. Lecture will broaden the working definition of what is a resource.

The section on "Food Resource" is important. You should clearly note there are several causes to the "food problem." But, it is important that you realize that many stereotype causes aren't really valid. For example, laziness or ignorance, while possibly the problem for some individuals, aren't factors in the global or even national expression of the problem. Pressure to force farmers into an exchange economy has contributed to more poverty and starvation than all the laziness in the world.

When the graphs on pages 126 & 127 say "GOP" they really aren't referring to a political party, what they mean is "GDP," or Gross Domestic Product (see page 565).

Several of the maps in this chapter have truly atrocious or even non-existent legends. For good examples of how bad they can be see Fig 3.4 on page 115 - here we find bad color/tone selections for the legend, Fig. 3.10 on page 124 - the legend explains two of the colors but leaves you guessing about the third one, and especially Fig 3.17 on page 131 - they don't bother to explain any of the colors. On the plus side, Fig 3.19 is pretty interesting and complements the text well.