Reply #29: Norway and Finland have had some exceedingly good fortune [View All]

[Euromutt]

The Norwegians have been able to fund their social services in part due to the fact that they're the world's third largest exporter of oil, and even when oil revenue drops off, they'll still have natural gas. They've also been careful to funnel 80% of oil and gas revenues into an investment fund which should outlast the reserves.

The Finns for their part have had the good fortune of having had Nokia bring unprecedented revenue into the country, though that gravy train may be running out of steam since Nokia completely missed the boat (to mix transportation metaphors) on smart phones. Still, there's still a fair part of the world that hasn't gone 3G yet.

It's comparatively easy to operate an excellent social services system when you have a prolonged national windfall, with an ethnically (relatively) homogenous population with no historical baggage of slavery and immigration leaving a slum-dwelling underclass. Said ethnic homogeneity helps no end with that "sense of cohesion," it might be added.