Anyway, the financial sector is thought to have done the same to the UK and the USA. There's something to that, in that these countries have a very low share of manufacturing in their GDPs compared to other 'western' countries.
Now that the house of cards built on the fancy financial constructs drawn up by economists, contract lawyers and investment bankers is falling down, the UK and USA are thought to be at much more risk than continental Europe or Japan. That's how we can talk about a 'disease' rather than successful specialisation.
At least that's what I've gathered...
Anyway, I've started wondering recently, what about Norwegian gas? Their reserves are much bigger than the Dutch and they're a smaller country with less industry. Is or was there a Norwegian disease?
a) I think there are signs of the issue in Norway. (I don't know if Solveig would agree with this.)
b) The Norwegian government seem to have looked at the results of the Dutch situation and created the oil fund and other government vehicles to try and avoid it happening, with some apparent success. (I think Solveig might agree with this.)
I would say we have been quite successful in maintaining a diverse knowledge based industry spread over the whole country - although small scale compared to those in more industrial nations. Much of this new industry is, of course, related to oil. Every oil company that drills on the Norwegian shelf, has always had to source a certain percentage of their services from local firms. This has given us unique knowhow in certain niche areas.
Education has been key to achieving this. I believe the Norwegian population has one of the highest levels of education in the world - and education has always been free (nothing to do with oil-money).
Could write more on various efforts to diversify, but need to stop here...
