How has Norway used its countrys wealth to benefit the population at large, especially in the areas of health, education and culture?
Norway’s oil industry did not develop in a vacuum-in terms of its policy, administration or economy. We have a long tradition of dealing with foreign capital in relation to hydropower and developing effective political structures to support development. Of course, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with the discovery of oil in the North Sea, more foreign investment came. This has been very beneficial to our country, in terms of revenues and the creation of interesting, new jobs in specialized fields. At the same time, we have been careful to guard against domination by the oil sector. Unfortunately, oil replaced many of the traditional Norwegian industries, especially in the 1970s and 1980s. We lost industries such as consumer electronics, televisions, refrigerators, textiles, etc. We don’t manufacture these products any more. But I don’t think the Norwegian economy has suffered because of it. New industries have been created, especially in the service sector. Essentially, oil has beco
