Publications
Publications
- April 2013 (Revised February 2018)
- HBS Case Collection
Norway: The Embarrassment of Riches
By: Sophus A. Reinert, Forest Reinhardt and Senny Munthe-Kaas
Abstract
In early 2013, Norway was by many accounts the world’s most developed country; it topped various indices for everything from democracy to happiness, had a comprehensive welfare state, and massive oil revenues endowed it with a substantial, and growing, Sovereign Wealth Fund. The governing coalition, anchored in the historically near-hegemonic Labour Party, had embraced peacemaking activities abroad and increasingly freer immigration policies at home, pursuing an aim of “liberal multiculturalism” that had invited both accolades and increasingly hostile criticism. More recent years had seen a change of government and falling oil prices, but Norway continued to top world development indexes. Now, in 2017, however, citizens of the country questioned both the government’s decision to turn a blind eye to ethical considerations in its pursuit of exports, and to environmental concerns in drilling for ever more oil and gas in fragile arctic ecosystems. Was there such thing as enough?
Keywords
Sovereign Wealth Funds; Welfare State; Natural Resources; Internationalization; Dutch Disease; Happiness; Macroeconomics; Energy Sources; Values and Beliefs; Sovereign Finance; Immigration; Welfare; Energy Industry; Norway
Citation
Reinert, Sophus A., Forest Reinhardt, and Senny Munthe-Kaas. "Norway: The Embarrassment of Riches." Harvard Business School Case 713-061, April 2013. (Revised February 2018.)