

Number 1 Economy in World is Norway's Social Welfare State - psychacker
https://www.impartial-review.com/stories/norway-s-common-sense-welfare-state-versus-u-s-capitalism

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danielweber
The Economist doesn't think they are very socialist:

> The idea of lean Nordic government will come as a shock both to French
> leftists who dream of socialist Scandinavia and to American conservatives
> who fear that Barack Obama is bent on “Swedenisation” ...

> EDIT: (oops this graf was only about Sweden)

> So long as public services work, they do not mind who provides them. Denmark
> and Norway allow private firms to run public hospitals. Sweden has a
> universal system of school vouchers, with private for-profit schools
> competing with public schools. Denmark also has vouchers—but ones that you
> can top up. When it comes to choice, Milton Friedman would be more at home
> in Stockholm than in Washington, DC.

There's more at
[http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571136-politicians-b...](http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571136-politicians-
both-right-and-left-could-learn-nordic-countries-next-supermodel)

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rayiner
It probably wouldn't be without the oil. It's disingenuous to compare GDP of
oil or mineral rich countries with those of others, because revenues from
selling oil is conversion of capital rather than real income. If you measure
GDP more accurately as change in assets + consumption, sale of resources adds
nothing to the economy. It's like selling your furniture to bring in cash
versus having a job.

~~~
beagle3
Well, you have to take out resources from any other GDP you compare to.

Oh, and if you really want to be fair, you have to take a "world war 2
wasn't-destroyed" bias out of US and Swiss (and a few other) GDPs.

You can always find excuses, sorry, explanations, about why something is
wrong. Just note that the US is resource rich as well - but it lets private
hands take all the profits from e.g. oil, and just ignores e.g. rare earth
elements.

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rayiner
I'm not saying Norway has an unfair advantage or whatever. I'm saying its
mathematically wrong to treat oil sales as income the way we do for the GDP
calculation. This applies to any country.

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polemic
Norway is a basically the country that won the lottery, wisely invested the
winnings and now gets to enjoy early retirement in perpetuity. The UAE is
similar: very few UAE citizens actually work in the private sector, and when
they do, it's largely a token role.

The ideological arguments are largely moot anyway - you can't have a global
economy populated by investor-nations. That would be like SF with all VC's and
no startups. =D

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jpatokal
The _huge_ difference between the UAE and Norway is that in Norway the
prosperity is essentially shared by all, whereas in the UAE a tiny, super-
privileged citizen elite (11%) and a small cadre of well-paid expats lord it
over a vast class of disenfranchised foreign workers in menial jobs.

[http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-
hari...](http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/commentators/johann-hari/the-
dark-side-of-dubai-1664368.html)

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Camillo
Who does the menial jobs in Norway?

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Kroem3r
Generally, Norwegians. They just get paid decently for them. It makes, for
example, going out for dinner a little more costly than North Americans are
accustomed to.

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notdrunkatall
More than a little, from what I've read.

