World Tour 4: How to beat the resource curse in Norway

Professor Hilde, remind us of the definition

definitionOkay, so a resource curse is a strange fact that a country who finds, say, oil or gas or any natural resource, it ends up being poorer after it has extracted the resource than it was before.

So it's a curse, actually, to find the resource, rather than a blessing.

It's amazing.

It's like winning the lottery can make you poorer.

Yes, exactly.

It's like a paradox of plenty, we call it.

The paradox of plenty.

Oh, I love it.

[laughs]

So how did Norway succeed in becoming a rich and successful oil-producing country where so many others have failed? Our first case study is from 2011.

It was hosted by the great David Kestenbaum and Alex Blumberg.

The story of how Norway avoided the oil curse is a fascinating tale focused on one guy, one unusual man, who was instrumental in helping Norway get it right where so many countries get it wrong.

My name is, uh, Farouk El-Kassem.

Farouk El-Kassem is Iraqi, and for over a decade, he worked in Iraq for an oil company.

He was trained as a geologist.

Farouk's wife was Norwegian, and in the 1960s, they decided to move to Norway.

Their son had cerebral palsy and needed medical care.

Job-wise, Norway seemed, at the time, like the worst place in the world for an oil guy.

You see, the Norwegian Geological Survey had already said that there is no hope in heaven-

[laughs]

... of ever finding oil or gas.

So Farouk figured if he was gonna get an oil job, it would come with a very long commute.

If I'm lucky, I could get a job in Europe somewhere, or even, e- even in, in North Africa or the Middle East, and then I could commute to Norway.

If the worst comes to the worst, I may be able to drive a taxi [laughs] in Norway.