Economic Geography

1
Economic Geography

• Economic Unions SOL WG.9d

2
Economic Unions

• Examples of economic unions
• EU - European Union
• NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement
• ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations
• OPEC - Organization of Petroleum Exporting
  Countries

3
European Union

• The European Union is an economic union in
  Europe. Most countries in Europe are members of
  the EU. Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland did not
  join the EU.
• One goal of the EU is to create a common market
  by getting rid of tariffs, improving
  transportation networks, introducing one
  currency, and making it easier for people to
  travel between countries.

4
European Union
5
Euro
6
Euro
Blue Area where euro is used Red Other eu
members
7
NAFTA

• The North American Free Trade Agreement is a
  trade agreement between Canada, the United
  States, and Mexico. NAFTA has eliminated tariffs
  between these three countries, which means there
  is no tax on imported goods.

8
NAFTA

• Some negative impacts of NAFTA are
• The price of food increased in Mexico due to
  cheap imported food from U.S. agribusiness.
• U.S. manufacturing workers lost jobs because many
  factories moved to Mexico.
• Large factories called maquiladoras operate on
  the Mexican side of the border and they often
  mistreat workers and pay low wages.

9
ASEAN

• ASEAN stands for Association of Southeast Asian
  Nations.
• ASEAN has ten members Brunei, Vietnam, Laos,
  Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore,
  Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar (Burma).
• ASEAN has many goals but it has reduced or
  eliminated tariffs between most of the members.

10
ASEAN
11
ASEAN
12
OPEC

• OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum
  Exporting Countries. The members of this
  organization set the price and production of oil.
• Most of the members of OPEC are in the Middle
  East, but Venezuela, Nigeria, and Indonesia are
  also members.
• Not every country that has oil is a member of
  OPEC. Russia and the U.S. are not members.

13
OPEC
14
Advantages of Unions

1. More efficient industries
2. Access to larger markets
3. Access to natural, human, and capital resources
   without restrictions
4. Greater influence on world market

15
Disadvantages of Unions

1. Closing of some industries
2. Concentration of some industries in certain
   countries
3. Agribusiness replacing family farms
4. Difficulty in agreeing on common economic policies

16
Agribusiness

• Agribusiness refers to large scale farming done
  by businesses. Agribusiness operations typically
  cultivate thousands of acres of land or raise
  thousands of animals at a time and they are
  integrated with the processing and distribution
  networks.