[Barrin92]

>scandinavians are no different from other people

Household consumption as a % of GDP in Norway is 30% compared to 68% in the US. The Norwegian public sector produces 70% of Norway's GDP. You're underestimating to what extent these policies reflect real differences in how countries are run. In the good old USA Facebook et al are allowed to do what they do because people keeping those credit cards busy is what keeps the economy up. Doesn't work that way in Norway and a decent chunk of Europe.

[fsckboy]

Norway has a ton of publicly owned oil, on an industrial scale. You aren't establishing that that isn't the explanation for all of it.

When Europeans come to the US, they largely behave like Americans, they fit right in. What Europeans need to stop doing is telling themselves that they're different.

[martin8412]

A ton of oil they sell, but don't spend the money from. The oil money is simply invested. They're one of the largest funds in the world. The government of Norway can spend 3% per budget year under certain rules, but rarely do. The first time it ever happened was in 2016.

When the oil runs out or demand for oil disappears, Norway won't plummet into poverty unlike a lot of other oil rich countries. The oil certainly made them rich initially, but their reluctance to spend money derived from oil will keep them rich.

[avgcorrection]

True but frankly doesn’t matter to the online commentariat. Norway is a tiny country that most people don’t know anything about, but if they do know that it is an oil state then that becomes the explanation for literally everything. Even traits that are exactly like Sweden and Denmark are because of Oil.

Disclaimer: guess my passport.

[avgcorrection]

> When Europeans come to the US, they largely behave like Americans, they fit right in. What Europeans need to stop doing is telling themselves that they're different.

America has military bases all over Europe. I’m going to arbitrarily decide that you need to establish that that doesn’t explain what you have been experiencing.

[tschwimmer]

70% seemed insanely high to me and so I checked this. It seems like the IMF has a similar (but not exact stat) that you quoted as 48%: https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/exp@FPP/NOR?zoom=NOR...

USA is 42% on the same measure.

[Barrin92]

Government expenditure is a very different metric as that's just what the state spends, not how it generates its income. Which in theory could be almost entirely by the private sector. Here's the US state department quoting the relevant reports (https://www.state.gov/reports/2022-investment-climate-statem...)

"The public sector accounts for nearly 66 percent of GDP. The Norwegian government is the largest owner in Norway, with ownership stakes in a range of key sectors (e.g., energy, transportation, finance, and communications)"[...]