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Compare respective sovereign wealth funds: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2016/09/24/how-to-not-spend-it https://www.economist.com/finance-and-
by barrkel 8y ago
Compare respective sovereign wealth funds: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2016/09/24/how-to-not-spend-it https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2016/09/24/h...
IMO you're on a hiding to nothing trying to support your position that the comparison isn't valid. The economic export situation is structurally quite similar between Norway and Australia, and the difference in how they've handled it is vast, far greater than any multiple in population.
- jessriedel 8y agoHuh? No one disputes that the countries handle things differently. But if you want to say that one way of handling things is better, and the only evidence you give are better outcomes, then inputs ought to be similar. But if one country has 30 times or 3 times the input (corresponding to oil or most natural resources, respectively), then this is a very poor comparison unless you do a lot more work to correct for it.
- jpatokal 8y agoHere's a simple way of looking at it: Norway has converted its resources into a $1 trillion pot of funds, while Australia has, to a first approximation and over a longer time frame, zero or less (the country runs a budget deficit). So it doesn't really matter if the input is 3 or 30 times bigger if the function converting it into output is broken.