Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/45096 
Year of Publication: 
2009
Series/Report no.: 
WIDER Research Paper No. 2009/23
Publisher: 
The United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER), Helsinki
Abstract: 
During the 1950-70s Norway had relatively low GDP per capita compared to the OECD average and even more so compared to Denmark and Sweden. During the 1970s there was a significant catch-up in incomes and from the early 1990s a take-off in relative income. Norway is currently ranked among the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world and is at the top according to UNDP's human development indicator. We argue that this development is related to the growth of the Norwegian petroleum sector, although many studies of economic growth conclude that countries abundant in natural resources are not blessed but cursed by gifts of nature. How has Norway avoided so many of the possible problems that follow in the wake of a natural resource-based development? Nowadays the standard answer to this question is good institutions and clever policies. In this paper we detail the institutions and policies that may explain the peculiar development success of Norway. There are lessons here that can contribute to policy learning, but only on the provision that the specificities of the learning country are understood.
Subjects: 
cross-section models
economic development
natural resources
resource booms
JEL: 
C21
C22
O1
O4
O5
O10
O13
Q33
ISBN: 
978-92-9230-192-7
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
123.62 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.