Économie
The economy of Savoy is one of the world's most stable economies. Its policy of long-term monetary security and bank secrecy has made Savoy a safe haven for investors, creating an economy that is increasingly dependent on a steady tide of foreign investment. Because of the country's small size and high labour specialisation, industry and trade are the keys to Savoy's economic livelihood. Savoy has achieved one of the highest per capita incomes in the world with low unemployment rates and a low budget deficit. The service sector has also come to play a significant economic role.
Sectors of the Economy
Industry
Savoy, as with many modern industrialised nations, has a large and diverse industrial base. Leading industrial sectors in Savoy are telecommunications, defense, ship building (naval and specialist ships), pharmaceuticals, construction and civil engineering, textiles and clothing, chemicals, and automobile production.
Energy
With no domestic oil production, Savoy has relied heavily on the development of nuclear power, which now accounts for about 61.5% of the country's electricity production. Nuclear waste is stored on site at reprocessing facilities.
Production of electricity (2008):
- Nuclear power - 61.5%
- Natural gas - 17.6%
- Hydroelectric - 10.2%
- Geothermal - 8.2%
- Solar - 2.4%
- Biomass - 0.1%
Agriculture
Savoy is extremely protective of its agricultural industry. High tariffs and extensive domestic subsidisations encourage domestic production, which currently produces about 60% of the food consumed in the country.
According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Savoy is subsidizing more than 70% of its agriculture compared to 35% in the EU. Protectionism acts to promote domestic production, but not to reduce prices or the cost of production, and there is no guarantee the increased domestic production is actually consumed internally; it may simply be being exported, to the profit of the producers. But 90 to 100% of potatoes, pork, veal, cattle and most milk products, are produced in the country. Beyond that, Savoyard agriculture meets sixty-five per cent of the domestic food demand.
Prices are not reduced because, in the absence of import tariffs, the price of food would settle to that of the cheapest provider (which would often be external to Savoy thus more costly in food miles). Import tariffs rise the price of food and Savoyard domestic production only has to be cheaper than these artificially raised prices. The consumer pays more than they otherwise would.
The cost of production is not reduced by subsidy; it merely makes the final point-of-sale price lower than it would otherwise be, since some of the cost of production is born by the State. However, the State obtains the money for the subsidy by taxation, which falls ultimately on the consumer. Subsidy merely alters who pays for what (although in this case it now pays for farming practices that are environmentally respectuous). Furthermore, if the food products produced are in fact being exported, the subsidy of their production costs makes them unusually competitive in the world market, which increases the profits of the producers; in other words, the State is in fact taxing the local population with an outcome which is actually merely to increase the profit of food producers.
Tourism
Savoy has a highly developed tourism infrastructure, especially in the mountainous regions and cities and the capital. In the 1960s the government heavily promoted the development of skiing in the Savoyard Alps through the development of new high level resorts including some of the world's most extensive ski trails. Savoy has over 22.5 million visitors a year who all together contribute about CSF 3.8 billion to the Savoyard economy every year.
Weapon Industry
Savoy is also a large producer of weapons. The Savoyard arms industry's main customer, for whom they mainly build warships, guns, nuclear weapons and equipment, is the Savoyard Government. Furthermore, record high defense expenditure (currently at CSF 37,898) have contributed to the success of the Savoyard arms industries.
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