Norway's prosperity down to 'luck': professor
Norway's recent good fortunes are down to some lucky economic factors that hide the true story of the nation's economic situation, said a leading expert.
Key factors of Norway's prosperous state include new oil discoveries, political skill, and improved financial management by the country's banks.
The claims were made by Professor of Economics Øystein Thøgersen at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), reported ScienceNordic.
"We have been very lucky. We have found a lot of oil. When we have believed oil revenues to be on their way down, we have found more", said the professor.
Lessons learnt from more unstable periods, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and high inflation in the economy in the 1970s, has seen Norway's political regime mature and profit from past mistakes.
Another factor was the the fall in oil prices in the 1980s. This led to the creation of Norway's Oil Fund which today is one key reason for the Scandinavian country's booming economy.
Today, the Central Bank of Norway has another important task, managing the money in the Oil Fund. In the 1980s, there was no such fund.
"We got used to spending too much of the oil money on an ongoing basis. In the 1970s and early 1980s, we did not quite understand that the oil prices could fall. The general forecast was that the oil would be finished in 2000", says Thøgersen.
"But we were lucky again: We found lots more oil and the prices rose, which has meant that the Oil Fund actually came to be highly significant", said Thøgersen.
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Key factors of Norway's prosperous state include new oil discoveries, political skill, and improved financial management by the country's banks.
The claims were made by Professor of Economics Øystein Thøgersen at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH), reported ScienceNordic.
"We have been very lucky. We have found a lot of oil. When we have believed oil revenues to be on their way down, we have found more", said the professor.
Lessons learnt from more unstable periods, such as the financial crisis of 2008 and high inflation in the economy in the 1970s, has seen Norway's political regime mature and profit from past mistakes.
Another factor was the the fall in oil prices in the 1980s. This led to the creation of Norway's Oil Fund which today is one key reason for the Scandinavian country's booming economy.
Today, the Central Bank of Norway has another important task, managing the money in the Oil Fund. In the 1980s, there was no such fund.
"We got used to spending too much of the oil money on an ongoing basis. In the 1970s and early 1980s, we did not quite understand that the oil prices could fall. The general forecast was that the oil would be finished in 2000", says Thøgersen.
"But we were lucky again: We found lots more oil and the prices rose, which has meant that the Oil Fund actually came to be highly significant", said Thøgersen.
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