The French Economy (charts not included)The macroeconomics of any country will be complicated and France is no exception. Different factors will give the analyst an idea of ​​the health of a country's economy. The first, and arguably most important, factor is GDP. GDP, also called gross domestic product, refers to a country's total output at a given time. Below is a time series of France's GDP from 1970 to 2008. As you can see, French GDP never seems to be in the same place twice or, at least, has not maintained a stable course over the past 38 years. This is common when looking at GDP time series of different economies. It is clear that the economic cycles of the last four decades show that France has experienced many economic “booms” and has also experienced many recessions. Booms can be explained by looking at certain macroeconomic models. Above you will see a copy of the overall supply and demand model. I use this as an example to show how GDP can be affected. You will notice that the AD1 line has moved to AD2. This is an example of demand-pull inflation. Demand-pull inflation is caused by an increase in spending in the economy. Expenditures consist of consumer spending on domestic products, investments, public spending and exports. When spending increases, demand for products also increases, pulling the aggregate demand line to the right. As spending decreases, the line moves to the left. This is very closely linked to inflation. Below you will see a time series of inflation in France between 1970 and 2008. In addition to demand-pull inflation, there is cost-pull inflation. This works when costs rise. Instead of the demand curve shifting, the supply curve shifts to the left. Businesses respond by raising their prices, and in doing so, they pass the costs on to the consumer. This has obviously not posed such a problem in France in recent years. Inflation fell significantly between 1982 and 1987 and has remained low since. The last important factor to consider is the unemployment rate. Below is the time series relating to unemployment in France between 1970 and 2008. The time series below shows that unemployment levels increased in France from 1970 to 1996, with the exception of a decline between 1988 and 2008. 1990.