The objective of the course Norwegian Economy is to give students insight into the Norwegian economic history after 1950 and the economic situation of Norway as it is today. Norwegian economics and economic management on a macro level will be the main topic.
The course will also give an updated picture of the dominating industries, its structure and business, the Norwegian labour marked and foreign trade. The students will also gain a good knowledge of the most important economic challenges for Norway in the future.
Elements to be covered:
Thoroughly covered
-Basic macroeconomic concepts as:
- Aggregate output, Gross domestic product (GDP).
- Private and public consumption at a macro level.
- Saving and investments at a macro level.
- Aggregate supply and demand.
- A simple macroeconomic model that can be solved by using graphs.
- Macroeconomic stabilizing policy
- International trade
- International Finance
- The economic history of Norway after 1950 with special emphasis of the Norwegian
method of management at the macroeconomic level and the growth of the oil business
of Norway.
- Macroeconomic trends and challenges after year 2000 until today including;
- Foreign trade
- Problems concerning use and efficiency of resources in the public sector
- Use of income from the oil production and the policy of the Norwegian oil fund
- The Norwegian pension and welfare system and possible financing problems in the future
- Economic reforms
- Policy to ensure a sustainable economic development.
The course will also focus on:
- The goals and means of The Norwegian Macroeconomic Policy.
- Inflation
- Economic growth
- The demographic development in Norway
The course will consist of lectures with economic theory and problem solving. All teaching will consist of lectures covering theory as well as more practical assignments. The teaching will focus on issues of current interest. The students will have to participate actively in class discussions of current economical problems. There will also be given compulsory problems were the student has to write a paper.
The students will also get training in searching economic information on the internet from such institutions as: The Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Statistics Norway and the National Bank
One or more companies located in the rural area of Sogn and FjordaneCounty will be visited. This may be a traditional industry or a service company. One or more companies located in a city will also be visited. At least one of the companies will have departments abroad.
The student has to write one paper that must be approved by the teacher before he is allowed to take the exam. This paper may be written together with some other students (maximum 3 student’s pr group).
- Economics, Parkin, Powell, Matthews, Addison-Wesley. 5.Edition .
- Norsk økonomisk politikk i det 20. århundre, part 3 and 4. Høyskoleforlaget, Hanisch et. Al.
- OECD Economic Surveys, Norway, Volume 2002/15
- OECD Economic Surveys, Norway, Volume 2004/6
- OECD Economic Surveys, Norway, August 2005
Some hand outs of articles from The Norwegian Ministry of Finance, Statistics Norway and the National Bank of Norway