Economic Geography

Abstract

Although the U.S. and China are the two largest economies in the world, the economic geographies of the two countries display different patterns. The U.S. is much more advanced than China in economic development, while China is growing much faster. Chapter 5 compares the growth and geographies of the natural resource and mining, the industrial sector, and services sector of the two countries. Both China and the U.S. take advantage of their abundant natural resources through mining. While the U.S. focused on domestic oil and gas exploration to keep up with its high per capita energy consumption, China invested heavily overseas for its growing quest for energy and raw materials for industrial production. The U.S. experienced deindustrialization and has reached the post-industrial stage of economic development, in which services is the most important economic sector in both income and employment. China is still in the industrialization stage and has become the largest manufacturer in the world. Services in China are the fastest growing sector and receives the most investment. Economic geography in the U.S. emphasizes urban areas, especially those in Northeastern and Western coasts. Economic activities in China are concentrated in cities on the eastern coast, but a good portion of those is agricultural activities that spread widely across the rural areas.