Masteroppgave(MSc) in Master of Science in Business, Economics - Handelshøyskolen BI, 2019 MasteroppgaveThe discovery of natural resources can turn out to be a curse rather than a blessing,
as resource-rich countries tend to grow at a slower pace. However, Norway is
considered an exception. This article conducts a structural break analysis in GDP
growth to test for the presence of a curse by comparing Norway to Denmark and
Sweden. We find that there are no signs of a deceleration in Norway by looking at
GDP growth. This perspective is very limited as GDP does not provide a clear
interpretation of economic growth. As such, we broaden the analysis by studying
variables of sustainability and wealth management, using the same empirical
framework. The findings for sustainability suggest a decline in early 2010s, even if
GDP growth is on a positive trajectory. This seem to coincide with movements in
the oil price. On the other hand, our tests indicate that the wealth management in
Norway might be unpredictable, thus violating principles of consumption
smoothing. By going beyond the limitations of GDP, Norway seem to develop
towards an unsustainable path, and opening the possibility of a resource curse
