is a commuter zone that follows some line of transport and is composed of more
expensive residences with more parks and open space, because land values are
lower here than closer to the CBD. The model predicts that at the outskirts of the
urban area a sector of low-density residential settlement will develop, marked by
large open spaces, smaller hamlets and communities, and suburbs. The sector
model fit many cities in the industrialized world reasonably well in the mid-20th
century, but innovations in technology and economic changes have reduced its
applicability for many metropolitan areas today.Sectors of the Economy
The term “sector” when applied to an economy may have several meanings. In
general usage, any modern economy may be split into a “public sector” and a “pri-
vate sector.” The public sector is represented by all those economic activities that
are funded and supported by government sources through the collection of tax rev-
enue and public bonds, or which are granted special status and do not compete
with similar businesses in a defined market, like public utility companies. The pri-
vate sector encompasses all economic and business activities that are privately
owned, funded, and administered. This includes a vastscaleof economic
endeavor: everything from a small business employing only one individual to huge
corporations with tens of thousands of employees. Investment capital in the private
sector is not generally derived from tax revenue, but rather from private invest-
ment in the form of loans, personal savings, offerings of stock (somewhat confus-
ingly, since this is called an “initial public offering” in investment parlance), and
other sources. More precisely, economists divide any economy into “sectors”
based on the predominant types of activities and products found in the sector. In
economic geography, these are the primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary, and
more recently, the quinary sectors of the economy. These sectors are typically pre-
sented as though they represent clear, discrete packages of economic activity, but
in reality there are many businesses that might be considered to be in more than
one sector, and indeed, economists are not always in complete agreement on the
precise characteristics that define each sector.
The primary sector of economic production generates goods that are produced
or extracted directly from theEarth’sland andoceans. They are taken and used
in the condition they are discovered, or they may be refined or concentrated into
more useful forms. The simplest forms of primary activity would be hunting and
gathering, or fishing for one’s immediate food requirements. Economic activities
that fall within the primary sector are typically those that seek to discover and302 Sectors of the Economy