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No, this rags to riches story is just a myth that Finland (the same goes for Norway) tell to themselves. In reality, in the early 1900s, Finland was poorer tha

No, this rags to riches story is just a myth that Finland (the same goes for Norway) tell to themselves. In reality, in the early 1900s, Finland was poorer than Western Europe and some British colonies, but richer than just about any other place in the world. Richer than Japan, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Poland - and about as rich as Austria or Italy. Fast-forward to 2021 - Finland is poorer than Western Europe and some British colonies, but richer than just about any other place in the world. Not much of a change, really. This is an unfortunate, but repeated finding of development economics - policy, unless intentionally malevolent, matters very little to the long-run wealth

xxs 5y ago
How do you define rich: currently Finland has higher GDP per capita than Germany, France and the UK... and well Norway is well ahead of the most West Europe (lots to do with the oil but still).
- fsloth 5y ago
  For example, Finland has very low amount of capital. GDP is the revenue stream. Amount of capital reflects actual wealth and potential for return of investments.
  - newjersey 5y ago
    Comments like this is why people ignore economists when it comes to personal finance. Macroeconomics is so difficult to grasp for me and feels so far away from anything that is remotely related to my life that just talking about it feels silly. The amount of capital in the US or even my state feels like completely divorced from whether I feel comfortable having children and raising a family (I don't at all).
    - fsloth 5y ago
      Sure! But when the question is "Is country x rich or poor" it's hard to gauge it any other way than using macroeconomics. "How would you feel living in country X" and "how does a person in a similiar position as myself feel living in country X" is quite personal question and probably quite detached from macroeconomics unless comparing countries with wildly different GDP:s.
  - onion2k 5y ago
    If you use 'national capital' as a measure then Norway is by far the richest country. It's sovereign wealth fund has more than 1.3 trillion dollars, and owns "about a 1.4% stake in all the world’s public listed companies."[1] I don't think many Norwegians would say they feel like they're the richest people on Earth though. EDIT: According to Wikipedia the wealth fund is worth 2.3 trillion now. That's for a country with a population of 5 million people. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/04/07/norways-sovereign-wealth-fund-makes-first-investment-in-renewable-energy-infrastructure/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/04/07/norways-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sovereign_wealth_funds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sovereign...

xxs 5y ago

How do you define rich: currently Finland has higher GDP per capita than Germany, France and the UK... and well Norway is well ahead of the most West Europe (lots to do with the oil but still).

fsloth 5y ago
For example, Finland has very low amount of capital. GDP is the revenue stream. Amount of capital reflects actual wealth and potential for return of investments.
- newjersey 5y ago
  Comments like this is why people ignore economists when it comes to personal finance. Macroeconomics is so difficult to grasp for me and feels so far away from anything that is remotely related to my life that just talking about it feels silly. The amount of capital in the US or even my state feels like completely divorced from whether I feel comfortable having children and raising a family (I don't at all).
  - fsloth 5y ago
    Sure! But when the question is "Is country x rich or poor" it's hard to gauge it any other way than using macroeconomics. "How would you feel living in country X" and "how does a person in a similiar position as myself feel living in country X" is quite personal question and probably quite detached from macroeconomics unless comparing countries with wildly different GDP:s.
- onion2k 5y ago
  If you use 'national capital' as a measure then Norway is by far the richest country. It's sovereign wealth fund has more than 1.3 trillion dollars, and owns "about a 1.4% stake in all the world’s public listed companies."[1] I don't think many Norwegians would say they feel like they're the richest people on Earth though. EDIT: According to Wikipedia the wealth fund is worth 2.3 trillion now. That's for a country with a population of 5 million people. [1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/04/07/norways-sovereign-wealth-fund-makes-first-investment-in-renewable-energy-infrastructure/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/palashghosh/2021/04/07/norways-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sovereign_wealth_funds https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_sovereign...