AP Human Geography — trade, globalization and sustainable development

The second half of Unit 7 of AP Human Geography follows industry into the global economy: why countries trade, who writes the rules, where factories moved and at what cost, and how development can be made sustainable. This material covers that ground, topics 7.5 to 7.8 of the course framework.

You begin with the basis of trade, complementarity and comparative advantage, and with the theories that explain uneven development, including dependency theory and commodity dependence. You then place the organizations the exam expects you to recognize: the World Trade Organization, the European Union, Mercosur, OPEC and USMCA, and the neoliberal policies of free trade, privatization and deregulation behind them. Tariffs show how governments at any scale shape trade, and the Latin American debt crisis of the 1980s shows how the International Monetary Fund and structural adjustment tied national economies to global finance.

The middle of the set is about the new map of manufacturing. Outsourcing and restructuring hollowed out core regions such as the United States Rust Belt while special economic zones like Shenzhen and the maquiladoras along the US-Mexico border grew. You learn to explain the new international division of labor, post-Fordist flexible production and just-in-time delivery, agglomeration and economies of scale, and how a growth pole produces a multiplier effect.

The set ends with sustainable development: the problems industrialization created, ecotourism in places such as Costa Rica with both its benefits and its limits, and the seventeen United Nations Sustainable Development Goals adopted in 2015 for 2030.

Four formats are offered. The quiz has twelve questions built around real cases and short scenarios, each with an explanation that also says why the other options fail. The flashcards cover the key terms and organizations. The written work has eight open questions modeled on free-response tasks, to be answered by hand and checked against a reference answer and key points. The oral exam is a conversation with an examiner who asks one question at a time, pushes you to connect local, national and global scales, and closes with precise feedback.

This is practice material written by Zestly, based on the published AP Human Geography course framework; it is not produced or endorsed by the College Board.

  • Explain complementarity and comparative advantage as the basis of trade
  • Identify the roles of the WTO, EU, Mercosur, OPEC and USMCA and describe neoliberal trade policy, including tariffs
  • Explain how debt crises, the IMF and structural adjustment made economies interdependent
  • Explain outsourcing, deindustrialization and the rise of special economic zones and maquiladoras within the new international division of labor
  • Apply post-Fordism, just-in-time delivery, agglomeration, growth poles and the multiplier effect to new scenarios
  • Evaluate ecotourism and the UN Sustainable Development Goals as responses to the environmental costs of industrialization

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the College Board AP Human Geography Course and Exam Description (course framework effective fall 2020), Unit 7, topics 7.5 to 7.8.

Sample question

Two countries, A and B, produce wheat and corn. Country A can produce wheat at a lower opportunity cost than Country B, while Country B can produce corn at a lower opportunity cost than Country A. If they decide to trade based on these differences, which economic concept are they utilizing?

See the answer

Comparative advantage

Comparative advantage occurs when a country can produce a good at a lower opportunity cost than another. Complementarity refers to the mutual exchange of goods that one party lacks and the other possesses, but the specific mention of opportunity cost points to comparative advantage.

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