Thinking Citizen Blog — The Economy of France (Part One): What Should Every Thinking Citizen Know?
Thinking Citizen Blog — Tuesday is Economics, Finance, and Business Day
Today’s Topic: the Economy of France (Part One): what should every thinking citizen know?
Last time, the economy of India, once the dominant economy on the planet earth (over 30% of global GDP) and now much, much less (roughly 8%). The French economy is about 4% of Global GDP but its population is about 68 million versus India’s 1.4 billion. France is the “most visited destination in the world as well as the European Union’s leading agricultural power.” What else is worth knowing? Today, a few more notes.
Are you French? What do you know about the French economy that the rest of us might not but would delight to learn?
Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
NUCLEAR POWER ACCOUNTS FOR ROUGHLY 70% OF ELECTRICITY GENERATION
1. France is the world’s largest net exporter of electricity.
2. In 2014, the target was to reduce the dependence on nuclear tp 50% by 2025.
3. In 2019, that target was delayed until 2035.
NB: In 2023, the target was abandoned.
AGRICULTURAL POWERHOUSE OF EUROPE — it’s not just the wine which accounts for 15% of agricultural revenues while using only 3% of the farm land and 2% of agricultural payroll.
1. “France is the world’s sixth largest agricultural producer and EU’s leading agricultural power, accounting for about one-third of all agricultural land within the EU.”
2. “Northern France is characterized by large wheat farms.”
3. “Dairy products, pork, poultry, and apple production are concentrated in the western region.”
NB: “Beef production is located in central France, while the production of fruits, vegetables, and wine ranges from central to southern France.
LOTS OF BIG CAP PUBLIC COMPANIES — and the richest man in the world — Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods company, LVMH — ahead of Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk….
1. Breakdown of top 10 countries with the highest revenues of the largest 500 companies in the world as of August 2023: US, 136 companies, China 135, Japan 41, Germany 30, France 24, South Korea 18, UK, 15, Canada 14, Switzerland 11, Netherlands 10.
2. L’Oreal — the world’s largest cosmetics company.
3. Hermes — luxury goods company founded in 1837.
NB: Total — oil and chemical company; Sanofi — drug company.
Nuclear Power in France — World Nuclear Association
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_France
QUOTE OF THE MONTH
“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
My spin — then periodically review, re-rank, and exchange your list with those you love. I call this the “Orion Exchange” because seven is about as many as any human can digest at a time. Game?
ATTACHMENTS BELOW:
#1 A graphic guide to justice (9 metaphors on one page).
#2 “39 Songs, Prayers, and Poems: the Keys to the Hearts of Seven Billion People” — Adams House Senior Common Room Presentation, (11/17/20)
NB: Palestine Orion (Decision) — let’s exchange Orions, let’s find Rumi’s field (“Beyond all ideas of right and wrong, there is a field. Meet me there” Rumi, 13 century Persian Sufi mystic)
THE LAST FOUR YEARS OF POSTS ORGANIZED THEMATICALLY INTO FOURTEEN BOOK-LENGTH PDFs:
PDF with headlines — Google Drive
YOUR TURN — Please share:
a.) the coolest thing you learned this week related to business, economics, finance.
b.) the coolest thing you learned in your life related to business, economics, finance.
c.) anything at all related to business, economics, finance.
d.) anything at all
