ABSTRACT
In order to understand in more detail how a national economy functions, this chapter looks at the economy of the European Union, the euro area, and some of the most important European countries individually. Retail services as a whole are not becoming a larger share of the national economy, but there have been clear changes in the structure of the retail industry. The three productive sectors that constitute any national economy are called primary, secondary, and tertiary. A quick look at the food, water, and energy systems illustrates the evolution of the production and use of primary-sector products in the European Union. The secondary sector includes manufacturing industries such as automobile production, the chemical industry, petroleum refining, the pharmaceutical industry, and electronics production. The tertiary sector includes direct services without the distribution of any physical goods, such as consulting, education, technology, finance, administration, and tourism.
