On to the raw resources economy of Norway. Oil , gas , and fish and metals, lots and lots of oil,and fish and gas. Norway is a big country with a tiny population of 5 million.From Oslo the capital in the south to the northern part of Norway is almost as long as from Oslo to Rome. Norway won the economic lottery when it discovered oil in 1963. Many economists argue that this is a blessing but also a curse because having such a big income so quickly has its own problems. The Norwegian oil fund is supposed to belong to the people but the reality is it is controlled and invested in high finance and it is floating around in the western stock and bond markets.
The fund’s worth is 1.35 trillion USD in assets in 2021, that is 250.000 USD per Norwegian citizen. If there was a vote on whether to keep the money in a fund for rainy days or give it to the country’s citizens, I’m pretty sure how that vote would go. I know what I would vote for at least. After 1970 there has been a steep rise in income , but in the past Norway was very poor. Norway is a big country but it has very small areas suited for agriculture and lots of mountains and rough terrain. Norway has seen starvation and people had to adapt to a very harsh environment. The old Norwegians are the toughest vikings there is. But the newly rich generation is very different from past generations, and far from every Norwegian is wealthy. It is very difficult to be poor in one of the richest countries in the world. Everybody in Norway knows it is impossible to reach middle management with a little bit of authority on a Friday because they are already on their way to the skiing hut from Thursday evening. The nightlife and the service sector would not exist in Norway if it wasn’t for young swedes working in the sector. Hard Work and work ethics is a foreign concept, and faking sickness not to come to work is very common. The past generation has worked very hard and laid down the foundations for growth in Norway but unfortunately the new generation is not displaying the same values. Norway is a difficult place for entrepenuers , entrepreneurship is not encouriged and there is a very big and slow bureaucracy hindering development in the private business sector.My prime suggestion will be to copy norwegian private companies and have the government of norway as a client as a buisness model, the government has too much money and government management level employess are mostly incompetent and there focus is doing as little as possible, and making life easy for them self.
The easiest way to get unpopular in a norwegian staterun workplace is to work hard , something that many foreigners sadly discovers often too late.
Norwegians are the toughest Vikings there is, many deep sea divers paid the highest price when wielding oil platforms in rough seas, many Norwegian fisherman has lost their lives at sea, very tough engineers and workers have built railroads and tunnels all over Norway,again that is not the current generation.Did you know Norway is one of the few countries in the world that produces more green electricity than it needs and exports more than half to other countries. Norwegians have had a very tough time in the past , I think they just need a couple of more years to adapt to the unexpected wealth that suddenly arrived from oil and get back to the strong spirit their ancestors had.
To summarize, these differences in economy impacts how people live and develop in the Scandinavian countries. I hope you think the Scandinavian countries are as interesting as I think and hopefully you will have the opportunity to visit and trade with the Scandinaviens because all three countries are beautiful and there are lots of business opportunities to discover.
