France Economy

 

Economic background

Most French businesses are privately owned. The government owns all or part of certain businesses, including some banks and steel companies. Most of France’s total land area is fertile. The richest farmlands lie in the north and northeast, where wheat and sugar beets are the chief crops. Service industries are those economic activities that produce services, not goods. They account for about 80 percent of both France’s workers and its total economic output. Service industries are especially important to the Paris area.

Coronavirus impact on economy

It is counterintuitive but the current spread of Covid may on balance be the least worst thing that could happen now. In July the World health Organisation said full lock downs could be 'the only option' to prevent resurgence. But last week Dr David Nabarro, a WHO special envoy for Covid, told Andrew Neil on Spectator TV that 'We in the WHO do not advocate lock downs as the primary means of control of this virus. We really do appeal to all world leaders: stop using lock down as your primary control method.'

Citation

Kesselman, Mark. "France." World Book Student, World Book, 2020,

www.worldbookonline.com/student/article?id=ar208640. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.

Ridley, Matt. "Riding the wave: Students who catch Covid may be saving lives by building up immunity." Spectator, vol. 344, no. 10025, 17 Oct. 2020, p. 20+. Gale OneFile: High School Edition, https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A639633754/STOM?u=tel_s_tsla&sid=STOM&xid=d533e3a8. Accessed 4 Nov. 2020.