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Wealth, relatively small population and homogeneity (cultural/religious/economic) does make a lot of difference, See: Qatar. US might be wealthier (I've not ve
by xstartup 8y ago
Wealth, relatively small population and homogeneity (cultural/religious/economic) does make a lot of difference, See: Qatar.
US might be wealthier (I've not vetted this statement) but it still doesn't have many of the above.
- vidarh 8y agoWell, yes, because you've just included a significant part of the solution (economic homogeneity) as one of the criteria. When you look back at Norwegian history over the last century, a lot of the shift happened in line with the rise of the labour movement and the rise of the welfare system, and a lot of the beneficial outcomes were visible before the oil revenue even started. Norway as a result got one of the flattest income distributions in the world, and has relatively high degrees of social mobility, and a culture where the labour movement combined with religious groups (in what some might call a rather unholy alliance) promoted the ideal of modesty. E.g. in Norway sending your schools to private schools long held a significant stigma. At the same time the US started moving in the exact opposite direction: Executive salaries as a multiple of workers salaries started skyrocketing etc..