UK economy

The wealth of a country depends on how rich it is in factors of production and how well it exploits (sfruttare) them.

The world of production can be divided into three main branches: primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.

Primary sector

This includes extractive industries, which take raw materials from:

the land (agriculture, mining or forestry)

the sea (fishing, oil and gas exploitation)

the air (wind power)

Secondary sector

This includes manufacturing industries which make finished products for the consumer. It also includes construction industries which are involved in the building of factories, roads, airports, schools.

Tertiary sector

This includes service industries that provided services to both business and private consumers, these include banking, communication, legal services, transport and medical services.

The United Kingdom is one of the most important trading powers (potenze commerciali) and financial centres (centri finanziari) in the world.

Its capitalist economy is one of the largest in Western Europe (Europa occidentale). Manufacturing plays a significant role and industries such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, plastics and electronics have been important.

In the course of the late eighteenth century scientific and industrial progress changed the methods of production. The invention of new machinery and the discovery of new power sources (fonti d'energia) caused the growth of the factory system of production and transformed the whole economic and social system.

Britain became the world's first industrial country because the original basis of industry was coal and England had plenty of raw materials (materiali naturali/grezzi).

The system of transport was improved by the construction of roads, canals and railways. Many people moved from the country into the industrial towns. But the conditions of work and life were generally very bad and this created a new social problems. Two classes emerged from the Industrial Revolution: the capitalists, who owned the buildings, the machines and the raw materials and the urban workers, who began to claim better conditions of work and more political power.

AGRICULTURE

Agriculture is intensive, produces around 60 percent of the country's food needs. The main items which are produced are cereals, oilseed, potatoes and vegetables, the rest of the land is used for sheep rearing and grazing cattle. Recently the UK cattle, sheep, poultry  was hit (colpito/interessato) by the scandal of BSE in 1996 and the meat industry suffered enormous problems. Several farmers destroyed their stocks (bestiame) without any compensation. In 1999 the government has obtained the agreement to import British beef again.

INDUSTRY

Britain was one of the first countries in Europe to have an Industrial Revolution. Its traditional industries include iron and steel (acciaio) production, shipbuilding and textile industry. The north of England used to be a busy economic centre with mining and manufacturing industries but today the mines are closed and many of the manufacturing industries no longer exist. The region has one of the highest levels of un employment in the UK.

The British industry is strong in chemicals, computer, scientific and technical instrumentation at the moment. London is one of the most prosperous area in England. There is an enormous range of commercial activities. Political power is associated with Westminster; financial power is concentrated in the City and cultural excellence is represented by its university, the press, theatres and museums.

ENERGY

Britain's sources of energy are coal, oil, natural gas and also several nuclear power plants.

FINANCE

The UK has one of the oldest and most developed financial systems in the world. The centre of the system is the City of London, a small area in the old part of Central London. Most of the major institutions are: the Stock Exchange, Lloyds of London, the Bank of England.