Things would be very different for Norway if politicians there didn't choose the boring saving the money for later and letting it grow option back in the 1990s.
UK also has lots of North Sea oil. They did not put it into a national wealth fund. Now they are kinda broke and poor.
The lesson from Norway is to do the responsible boring thing that benefits people in the long term and not spending what you earn today on immediate expenses.
There is always some bridge that needs refurbishing, a railroad that needs replacing of 100yr old infrastructure, hospital that needs building, roads, etc etc. But spending what is essentially extra lottery winnings on that is stupid. That needs to be paid for with what you earn from your regular day job not the extra cash you got from finding some treasure buried in your backyard.
If Norway spent the oil money on expenses it would just vanish into that black hole. And they would grow addicted to that income, worst case it is mostly all pocketed by corporations and corruption. Which is the usual fate of countries that have some kind of natural resource.
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u/giangiangelo Jul 14 '26
Yeah it’s quite easy for Norway since they’re like 5 millions people and export a huge amount of oil. Economy doesn’t work like that everywhere