Why does Norway have the highest entrepreneur rate in the world?

[Dinner]

Here's a great article which may make a few people rethink the dogma that high taxes are automatically bad for people who want to start small businesses. In fact all the countries with higher rates of entrepreneurialism then the US (Norway, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland) have higher taxes then the US yet still manage to have extremely high rights of new business start ups and thus wealth creation. This article from Inc Magazine is long but well worth a read:

In Norway, Start-ups Say Ja to Socialism

We venture to the very heart of the hell that is Scandinavian socialism—and find out that it’s not so bad. Pricey, yes, but a good place to start and run a company. What exactly does that suggest about the link between taxes and entrepreneurship?

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/in-norway-start-ups-say-ja-to-socialism.html

[Cort Haus]

oil?

[Dinner]

Another thing that surprised me is that despite Norway's high taxes on income and it's high sales tax it is actually cheaper for a company to higher an employee in Norway then to hire one in the US. There tax structure is set up to make it very easy to hire someone but profits get hit if you make over $124,000 a year so most companies reinvest profits in improving operations rather then taking profits out of the company as personal income.

http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201/comparing-labor-costs-in-norway-and-new-york.html

[Asher]

oil?

Got it in one.

thread can close now.

[Asher]

It's also the same reason Calgary is the #1 for entrepreneurship in Canada and disproportionately represented with corporate HQs. Oil.

We also have the lowest taxes in Canada, so there goes that theory.

[Dinner]

oil?

I'm sure oil helps but most of that money goes to the government (especially since the state owned oil company does most of the oil drilling & pumping). I'm sure profits from oil are one of the reasons Norway can afford to give cash grants to just about any citizen who wants to start a new company but similar systems exist in other countries which have higher entreprenuerism rates including countries which aren't so dependent on oil like Denmark, Canada, and Switzerland.

[OzzyKP]

I haven't read the article and don't really intend to, but issues like this are more complex than just high tax vs. low tax. Like you said Oerdin, taxes may be high in some areas and low in others. Regulations can be structured differently as well. My hunch is that that while the US is more pro-business than other countries, we aren't necessarily more pro-small business. There are a number of ways in which our regulations and tax law benefit big business over small start ups.

That doesn't mean that high taxes can promote entrepreneurship.

[Asher]

I'm sure oil helps but most of that money goes to the government (especially since the state owned oil company does most of the oil drilling & pumping). I'm sure profits from oil are one of the reasons Norway can afford to give cash grants to just about any citizen who wants to start a new company but similar systems exist in other countries which have higher entreprenuerism rates including countries which aren't so dependent on oil like Denmark, Canada, and Switzerland.

Oh, for christ sakes Oerdin.

Canada's so dependent on Oil the US/CDN dollar conversion closely tracks oil prices.

[Asher]

Entrepreneur rates are high because any ******* can buy an oil company, buy up a small patch of land from the government, then get bought out by big oil and retire with a fortune. It's very, very common.

[Dinner]

Talk about being obtuse. Canada as a whole is clearly less dependent upon oil then Norway is (as in less of its GDP is tied to the oil industry) so it is less dependent upon oil while neither Denmark nor Switzerland are large oil producers yet they still manage to have incredibly high rates of business start ups and people who make a living off of a business they own so even when you factor the oil industry out they are clearly doing something right. The article discusses this.

[Fake Boris]

It's also the same reason Calgary is the #1 for entrepreneurship in Canada and disproportionately represented with corporate HQs. Oil.

We also have the lowest taxes in Canada, so there goes that theory.

1) Oil in Norway is state-owned.
2) Quebec, despite having higher taxes than most Canadian provinces, is within the average for the number of SMEs.

[Fake Boris]

Another fun fact: France is 2nd in the world for inward foreign investment.

[Asher]

1) Oil in Norway is state-owned.
2) Quebec, despite having higher taxes than most Canadian provinces, is within the average for the number of SMEs.

Oil in Alberta is province-owned.

There's a lot of nuances I don't think you understand.

I'm well aware with the more direct control the government has over oil in Norway, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the rate of entrepreneurship. The vast majority of work in the energy sector is done by small, private contracting companies.

[Hauldren Collider]

Doesn't Alaska have high entrepreneurship as well, also because of the oil? I'd hardly call Alaska socialist.

[Fake Boris]

Oil in Alberta is province-owned.

There's a lot of nuances I don't think you understand.

I'm well aware with the more direct control the government has over oil in Norway, but that has absolutely nothing to do with the rate of entrepreneurship. The vast majority of work in the energy sector is done by small, private contracting companies.

How many oil wells are operated by the Albertan government in comparison to Statoil?