4 ms·

Sure. We're looking for something that's equivalent to Norway's oil industry. According to the links I gave, Norway's top exports are Crude Petrolium and Petrol

by cygx 8y ago

Sure. We're looking for something that's equivalent to Norway's oil industry. According to the links I gave, Norway's top exports are Crude Petrolium and Petrolium Gas, in 2017 accounting for 53% of all exports at $55.8B. Assuming a population of 5.3M, this translates to $10.5k per person. Australia's top exports are also based on natural resources, namely, Iron Ore, Coal Briquettes, Gold and Petroleum Gas, accounting for 60% of all exports at $144.6B. Assuming a population of 24.6M, this translates to $5.9k per person.

jessriedel 8y ago
Thanks. As discussed further down the thread, it is disingenuous to add natural resources to Australia's total but not Norway's total. (Metals and fishing are both 10% each of Norways exports.) This makes it 15.5k per person in Norway, giving a ratio of 3, halfway between the ratio I eyeballed (4) and the one you did (2).
- cygx 8y ago
  As far as I'm aware, metals and fishing do not contribute to the Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is why I did not include them on the Norwegian side and similarly only looked at the top items on the Australian side (eg adding Refined Petrolium on the Autralian side would push the balance closer to 2 again). Point is, while Australia isn't quite as well off as Norway, there are resources aplenty to pull off something similar on a somewhat smaller scale.
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
  - jessriedel 8y ago
    That may be your point, which is fine, but the original comment I was replying to was comparing the tax rate of Norway and Australia, and I was arguing this is not a sensible comparison in light of the much larger natural resource inheritance of Norway.
    - paulific 8y ago
      I think the original comment only really mentioned taxes in passing and then the discussion went off down a rabbit hole; but a wonderful rabbit hole in which each subsequent comment added more interesting and relevant information.
- bzbarsky 8y ago
  Fishing, unless you feel that the fisheries are being overfished, is in quit a different bucket because it's a renewable resource. Metals is an interesting case because on the one hand they are definitely a non-renewable resource. On the other hand, it seems like there's a difference between exporting ore and exporting refined metals, in terms of whether it's "just" resource extraction or not...
wp381640 8y ago
you also have to look at extraction costs - Statoil is very high yield and low cost extraction which survives even the tightest OPEC squeezes. Iron ore extraction isn't bad but it's nowhere near as profitable as Norway's oil extraction You'd have to do that across the entire range of resources and then divide per capita - on that basis I think Norway would blow by 4x Australia just based on off-the-top of my head estimate

by cygx 8y ago

jessriedel 8y ago

Thanks. As discussed further down the thread, it is disingenuous to add natural resources to Australia's total but not Norway's total. (Metals and fishing are both 10% each of Norways exports.) This makes it 15.5k per person in Norway, giving a ratio of 3, halfway between the ratio I eyeballed (4) and the one you did (2).

cygx 8y ago
As far as I'm aware, metals and fishing do not contribute to the Government Pension Fund of Norway, which is why I did not include them on the Norwegian side and similarly only looked at the top items on the Australian side (eg adding Refined Petrolium on the Autralian side would push the balance closer to 2 again). Point is, while Australia isn't quite as well off as Norway, there are resources aplenty to pull off something similar on a somewhat smaller scale.
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- jessriedel 8y ago
  That may be your point, which is fine, but the original comment I was replying to was comparing the tax rate of Norway and Australia, and I was arguing this is not a sensible comparison in light of the much larger natural resource inheritance of Norway.
  - paulific 8y ago
    I think the original comment only really mentioned taxes in passing and then the discussion went off down a rabbit hole; but a wonderful rabbit hole in which each subsequent comment added more interesting and relevant information.
bzbarsky 8y ago
Fishing, unless you feel that the fisheries are being overfished, is in quit a different bucket because it's a renewable resource. Metals is an interesting case because on the one hand they are definitely a non-renewable resource. On the other hand, it seems like there's a difference between exporting ore and exporting refined metals, in terms of whether it's "just" resource extraction or not...

wp381640 8y ago

you also have to look at extraction costs - Statoil is very high yield and low cost extraction which survives even the tightest OPEC squeezes. Iron ore extraction isn't bad but it's nowhere near as profitable as Norway's oil extraction You'd have to do that across the entire range of resources and then divide per capita - on that basis I think Norway would blow by 4x Australia just based on off-the-top of my head estimate