‘Socialist’ Norway still tops HDI
Crossposted from European Tribune.
Which makes it five years in a row. So, do we get to keep the trophy soon?
OSLO: Norway will top a 2005 UN ranking as the best country to live in for the fifth year in a row, the head of the UN Development Programme (UNDP) said [at a Friday press conference].
Rich from North Sea oil and with a generous welfare state, Norway has led the world ranking since it ousted Canada from top spot in 2001. The annual list ranks countries by an index combining wealth, education and life expectancy.
Certainly, the greasy stuff and the current price thereof are not unrelated to this. Nor are developments in China. Nonetheless: among starboard supply-siders, especially across the pond, there is a sense that Scandinavian “socialism light” guarantees stagnation - if not even stagflation. Can they really account for the following without farcical distortion?
The economy is set to expand by a stellar 3.75 percent this year, interest rates are at a very low 2.0 percent, annual inflation is almost non-existent at 1.1 percent and unemployment a low 3.7 percent.
