July 26, 2004
THE PETRO-CURSE:
Norway work ethic slips on oil-coated slope (Lizette Alvarez, July 26, 2004, NY Times)
Before the oil boom, when Norway was mostly poor and isolated, it survived on hard work and self-reliance, two sturdy Scandinavian virtues.Now, with the country still bulging from three decades of oil money, Norway is discovering that sudden wealth comes with complications: The country's bedrock work ethic is caving in. Norwegians now stay home from work at the highest rate in Europe, outdoing even the former titleholder, Sweden.
"We have become a nation of whiners," said Finn Bergesen Jr., director general of the Confederation of Norwegian Business and Industry, Norway's largest trade organization. "Everything is wrong, yet we are living in the best country in the world. People complain and complain - because we have everything."
On an average day, about 25 percent of Norway's workers are absent from work, because they have called in sick, are undergoing rehabilitation or are on long-term disability. The rate is especially high among government employees, who account for half the work force.
And they were a developed nation before they found oil wealth. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 26, 2004 7:29 AM
Do you still want to grab Alberta?
Posted by: Peter B at July 26, 2004 7:44 AMOur religion seems an an effective counter.
Posted by: oj at July 26, 2004 8:07 AMPeter;
It's also a function of how much of a chunk of GDP oil is. In Norway, a sizeable fraction of the population and government revenues can live off oil. That's not so here in the USA.
Unfortunately we can't test this on Canada, since it was ruined by other means.
Posted by: Annoying Old Guy at July 26, 2004 9:20 AMAh Norway...
http://www.bearstrong.net/warblog/000756.html
Posted by: Barry Meislin at July 26, 2004 9:33 AMEven if we had the tare shoals at Alberta, it wouldn't make a difference. The US is too big to be a petro-country, and our economy too diversified. Whatever the oil wealth is, it's not sufficient for the entire population.
The only region it may not be the case is Alaska as I understand every Alaskan gets a check based on the oil fund there. But Alaska is also such an inhospitable country, many would prefer work and living in the lower 48 than simply lounging in Nome.
If someone wants to check the effects of easily generated wealth, payment checks on a population, and verifiable dilatory effects on the population in the US, I suggest people start studying the effects on casino gaming checks on Indian Reservations.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at July 26, 2004 12:00 PMThe curse of oil strikes again.
Even Scandinavia is not immune.
Posted by: Ken at July 26, 2004 12:13 PMOJ/AOG:
"All rich men are fools, but when I am rich, I won't be a fool."
Posted by: Peter B at July 26, 2004 2:37 PM" I suggest people start studying the effects on casino gaming checks on Indian Reservations."
What happened? Did they all become bloggers?