What you will need for the exam: Pencil and or Pen, calculator

The midterm exam will consist of three types of questions.

The short answer questions will likely ask you to define and/or apply terms and concepts we have covered in class.  To review for this portion of the test you should study the outlines posed on the web site and your notes and make sure you understand the various terms we’ve used.  Be sure to study terms that are especially new to you.

Problem questions will likely resemble the homework/in class exercises that I’ve given you.  You should know the equations you need. The best way to learn these is not necessarily to just memorize them (though that will help) but to also understand the logic behind them.  I might also ask you to interpret or draw a diagram like those found in the text or that we highlighted in class.

The essay questions will either ask you to explain a particular model or theory or explain an example in terms of the concepts and theories we have discussed in class.  The key to getting a good grade on the essay questions is to answer the question completely and fully.  You should write an essay.  This means that your answer should include an argument and should have a basic structure.  The best essays will answer the question right away and will then elaborate on the initial answer.  The essay should be long enough to adequately answer the question.

Be sure to review lecture outlines, your notes, italic terms in your text, and end of the chapter questions. Not every concept or idea is on this outline below. Use it to organize your studying.

The second exam covers material on

• The Environment and Regulation
  • What is Environmental Economics? How does the geographic approach differ?
  • Why nature and the economy are inseparable?
  • Commodity chain as system of material flows and balances
  • Nature as a commodity
  • What is a resource?
    • How does nature become a resource?
    • Properties of resources
    • Types of Ownership of resources
    • Types of Resources
    • What is the Hotelling Rule?
    • Location and Resource Exploitation
    • Ricardian and Malthusian Scarcities
    • How the example of mining in Minnesota illustrates issues of resources.
    • Private vs. public resources (and water rights and fisheries examples)
  • Commodification of Environmental Degradation
    • Examples of Emissions Trading and Environmental Certification
  • Actor Network Theory (ANT) (Can you interpret a case study using ANT?)
  • Sugar case study. Can you apply what you have learned about the economic geography of the environment to interpret this case?
• The State
  • The ultra-globalist or end of the state argument
  • What are the economic functions of the state?
  • What are some different types of states? How do they differ in their economic geography?
  • What does the process of State reconfiguration and rescaling involve?
  • In what ways is state control of the economy limited?
• Industrial Location
  • What are the different kinds of market structure and how do they influence industrial location?
  • Can you explain the Webber Model? How does it differentiate between different kinds of resources?
  • What is the material index?
  • Can you explain the Losch Model and how does it work?
  • Can you explain the Hotelling model?
  • Can you explain the product lifecycle model
• Transnational Corporations
• Since this section of the course is split in two, focus mainly on how models for the location of transnational corporations differ from the traditional models that we have discussed. We will include more about TNC's on the final exam.

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