While Australia has an enviable capitalist economy with strong growth and low inflation, France is in the midst of transition, from a planned economy that has featured extensive government ownership and intervention to one that relies more on market mechanisms.

Economic growth

France has a larger economy than Australia in terms of Gross Domestic Product. In 2003 France's GDP was US$ 1.661trillion making it the fourth largest economy, while Australia's GDP was US$571.4 billion, ranking 13th. But because population of France is 59.7 million (2003) and Australia's 19.9 million (2003) we need to look at GDP per capita as this will give us an understanding of its proportional size. Therefore, while French economy is enormously larger than Australia's, GDP per capita shows that national output per person is higher in Australia who is ranked 14th in the world, while France is 20th. The same trend...