What Is an Economic Region?
An economic region is an area in which particular types of commerce take place based on administrative or geographical boundaries. These boundaries come in the form of state lines, international borders or natural geographic landmarks. Other factors, including the migration of labor, the consumer’s market and laws regarding trade, shape economic regions. There are several different types of economic regions, most notably large, small, urban and international.
Economic regions are divisions of resources and labor in which a specified area functions to provide a service to another area. Sometimes, these economic regions are purely a construct of government, as in the example of government-owned fishing shores. Alternatively, economic regions are areas of the world in which cash crops, such as oranges or coffee beans, grow. Certain laws, such as The North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, create large international regions.
Regarding international economic regions, there are 10 recognized areas. These regions are North and Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, Japan, Asia, Oceania and the southern and northern parts of Africa. An economic region is made up of the actions of the people who live within an area and share a common interest in commerce and trade with other parts of the world.