Clark-Fisher Model

The model shows how as an economy grows the relative importance of different sector changes

Pre-Industrial

Primary sector dominates Mining, Agriculture etc Relatively primitive economies

Industrial Growth of manufacturing industry (Secondary) To support population growth in the demand for

services. E.g. Transport, water, electricity, financial etc.

Post-Industrial

Gradually the tertiary sector becomes more important as manufacturing dies away

Common in many MEDC’s

Quaternary

In many developed economies this quaternary sector has developed

Services such as Research and development and IT.

This model works well for westernised countries as well as the south

Some people believe that Globalisation speeds this process up and can change the sequence

Tourism growth could mean a by-pass of the industrial phase

Whether it fulfills the destiny of every country remains to be seen

There is debate over whether some countries could develop further

The speed of development is by no means the same for everyone

Current Thinking

Favours the idea that there is more than one path to development.

In LEDC’s tertiary sector is overtaking secondary sector and can in some cases by-pass it.

In a Nut shell

Clark-Fisher model uses percentages employed in each sector to show that many economies move through three stages: primary, when the largest percentage are employed in primary industry; secondary, when the largest percentage are employed in secondary industry and the post-industrial stage, when most people are in tertiary industry.

This change is driven by an increase in productivity per employee. Increased productivity in agriculture frees people to work in manufacturing. Increased manufacturing productivity and increased income means people spend proportionally less on agricultural goods than manufactured goods, and in turn less on manufactured goods than services.

The model ignores the international economic context - it does not take into account imports of manufactured goods, or the relocation of some countries manufacturing to less economically developed countries.

Further Reading

‘Global Challenge’ McNaught & Witherick ‘Geography An Integrated Approach’ D.

Waugh

Questions:

The Model refers to four different employment structures can you think of one country that may represent each part of the model

Primary sector…………………………………………………………. Secondary sector……………………………………………………… Tertiary sector…………………………………………………………. Quaternary Sector…………………………………………………….

The Model refers to four different employment structures can you think of one country that may represent each part of the model

Primary sector……Kenya…………………………………………… Secondary sector……………………………………………………… Tertiary sector…………………………………………………………. Quaternary Sector…………………………………………………….

The Model refers to four different employment structures can you think of one country that may represent each part of the model

Primary sector……Kenya…………………………………………… Secondary sector…Thailand………………………………………… Tertiary sector…………………………………………………………. Quaternary Sector…………………………………………………….

The Model refers to four different employment structures can you think of one country that may represent each part of the model

Primary sector……Kenya…………………………………………… Secondary sector…Thailand………………………………………… Tertiary sector……S. Korea…………………………………………. Quaternary Sector…………………………………………………….

The Model refers to four different employment structures can you think of one country that may represent each part of the model

Primary sector……Kenya…………………………………………… Secondary sector…Thailand………………………………………… Tertiary sector……S. Korea…………………………………………. Quaternary Sector……UK or US…………………………………….

Extra Work

Read the two hand outs on Moodle entitled Clark-Fisher and describe the processes at work that have created the situations in both cases.