Final answer:
Early economies of France and England contrasted with the Dutch, who focused on Asia through the Dutch East India Company. France and England pursued North American and Indian interests with joint-stock companies and mercantilist policies. By the 17th century, England's maritime dominance and French territorial expansion caused Dutch economic decline.
Step-by-step explanation:
Early on, the economies and investments of France and England in comparison to the Dutch varied significantly in focus and scale. While the Dutch concentrated on developing a commercially dominant position in Asia through their Dutch East India Company, amassing wealth primarily from the spice trade in the Indonesian archipelago, the French and English were building their colonial presence in North America and India.
French and English governments established monopolies for foreign trade, paralleling the course taken by the Dutch. Both nations formed joint-stock companies to promote their overseas endeavors—such as the British East India Company and the French counterpart. These companies were designed to maintain control of foreign trade prices by reducing internal competition among merchants and to assist in forming new markets within their growing colonial empires.
England's approach to managing its economy was somewhat different from the French monarchy's more direct control. England developed mercantile policies to enhance its trading prospects, such as tariffs on imported goods and laws favoring English shipping. Comparatively, the Dutch adopted strategies of exporting high-quality goods like cloth, iron tools, and guns—being a resource-poor country, they relied on the trade of their manufactured goods to sustain economic prosperity.
However, towards the latter part of the 17th century, the once-dominant Dutch began to experience a period of decline due to England's increased control over sea trade and French territorial gains in the north, indicating a shift in the balance of economic power in Europe. Subsequently, the Dutch film market gradually diminished as English and French expansion continued.