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Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

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Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#91

Post by Applejinx »

marvin wrote: post #36
mockingbirdy wrote: post #22

I'm seriously impressed: See the national debt of Norway (34.33% of GDP) - this is insanely low for developed countries. For comparison: US - 107.40%, Germany - 61.51% https://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/norway https://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/unitedstates https://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/germany - - - Another important measurement is the Gini coefficient [1] which shows us if the wea…

Did your sources distinguish Norway's Gini coefficient before and after taxes? My impression is that marginal taxation here is massive, since we have a sales tax of 25% (consumption tax, effectively), high taxes on luxury goods (cars especially), wealth tax of 0.85% of net worth every year and capital gains tax of 30% with no exemption for long-term holdings. The marginal tax rate on income is 46% IIRC, but your empl…

"wealth tax of 0.85% of net worth every year"

Interesting. That's very much in line with what my experiments showed: just on a computer model of incredibly primitive 'economics', you can use an incredibly tiny wealth tax to redistributive effect. I think you can even ditch a lot of sales, income tax etc. if you're prepared to do a wealth tax. It seems to be very effective but this is the first I've heard of it actually being done anywhere.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#92

Post by Tijdreiziger »

Findeton wrote: post #71
mac01021 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do European professors and universities avoid grade inflation? Are their incentives very different?

They don't get paid more for getting more students, or if more students pass. Normally people go to public universities, which are pretty good, and their teachers have more or less a fixed salary. In general university costs money, both to the Government/State and the student, and thus incentives are somewhat aligned for both parties. Also, student loans are NOT a common thing here... When I was at uni, the cost of t…

> student loans are NOT a common thing here

That's sadly not true in all of Europe. I attend university in the Netherlands, and since government allowances were replaced by loans a few years back, having a student loan has become the norm for students.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#94

Post by [deleted] »

mac01021 wrote: post #46
franciscop wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I'm not talking about zero-sum (which should be similar everywhere), I'm talking about Universities becoming easier in USA much faster than in Europe. Example: https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2015/01/same-p...

How do European professors and universities avoid grade inflation? Are their incentives very different?

[deleted]

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#96

Post by known »

Norway FTW

  Free public parking to Electric vehicles
  Govt distributes 1000 copies of every book published to libraries
  Police officers are trained in Higher Education for 3 years
  Tuition free education to everybody in the World

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#97

Post by brozaman »

franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

> If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless

I think it only becomes pointless if there are limited work opportunities for your studies, however, we're lacking computer science people and having a degree almost guarantees that you'll get a job. In our current context, people who study a 1-3 month course in a code bootcamp are getting jobs, a degree with inflated score still is a degree.

I'm not saying that having an engineering degree is a guarantee that you are competent, and that someone without a degree, or a completely unrelated degree cannot be competent.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#98

Post by philjohn »

tikkabhuna wrote: post #25
franciscop wrote: post #15

As a Spaniard who has discussed this in lenght with many other Europeans[1], it really seems like the US is the main country with the University debt issue. I also really believe that "score inflation" is a big issue mainly in the US. If everyone can finish University, then having a university title becomes pointless! [2] In Spain, Germany, France, Italy, etc if you get a degree in STEM it means you put a lot of effo…

> [1] oddly enough I have never discussed this with british people Over recent decades tuition fees have been rising, but they've been covered by a special loan. Paying back this loan is taken out of your pay cheque (via PAYE) based on how much you earn. If you don't pay it back within a certain number of years it gets wiped. Before the last major increase it was viewed by most of my peers (I graduated in 2013) as re…

It's actually better to think of the UK loans as a graduate tax - and in that way it's pretty progressive.

You pay 9% extra from when you earn over 25k a year (IIRC). So those who need a degree to go into lower paying, yet skilled, professions (nursing, teaching) can do so easily safe in the knowledge that yes, there's this big sum of money that they "owe" but it'll only be taken once they are earning an OK salary, and they don't have to pay it all back if their earnings never rise.

Re: Unlike most millennials, Norway's are rich

#99

Post by philjohn »

gaius wrote: post #59
Deestan wrote: post #9

While not as bad off as the US, we are still seeing similar trends. They still can't afford to buy apartments until their 30s if they have good jobs, while their parents bought houses at the age of 20 working as factory drones.

their parents bought houses at the age of 20 working as factory drones Drones, really? The skill of even a basic assembly line worker dwarfs that of the glorified typing that passes for most middle-class employment. But machine tool operating is often highly skilled work.

I don't know, did you ever see the quality of cars coming off the British Leyland factory line? ;)
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