Ola Grytten | Norwegian School of Economics (original) (raw)

Papers by Ola Grytten

Scandinavian economic history review, Apr 11, 2024

Writers on Norwegian economic history often claim that industries related to the sea played a maj... more Writers on Norwegian economic history often claim that industries related to the sea played a major role in the Norwegian economy for centuries. However, little has been done to quantify this sector's contribution to the economy. The present paper seeks to quantify the size of the key offshore industries compared to GDP and exports. To do so it has been necessary to draw on new historical national account calculations and export data in addition to compute new series Based on these calculations we find that the offshore sector made up a significant part of Norwegian GDP, and a dominant part of exports, 1816-2021. As a share of the total economy the sector's traditional industries, i.e. fishing ari and ocean transport were in sum stable until the late 1950s in the long-run. Thereafter they shrunk rapidly, when the takeoff of the new offshore industry, oil and gas extraction from the continental shelf from the 1970s, made the offshore economy reach new heights in the decades to follow. This paper quantifies this development.

Filosofija-sociologija, Nov 5, 2023

We test the hypothesis that demographic continuity was a necessary condition of performable token... more We test the hypothesis that demographic continuity was a necessary condition of performable token post-communist social restorations. Demographic continuity means sufficient overlapping between populations of original and restored systems. Token social restoration refers to restorations where original and restored systems are identical. It is opposed to type restoration where original and restored systems are numerically different instances of the same type. The identity of original and restored systems in token restorations is achieved by performing various practices in the restored system to establish institutional continuity with the original system. The restitution of property rights is the most important of them in the post-communist restorations. So our hypothesis claims that these practices cannot be performed without sufficient demographic continuity. We abstract the demographic continuity thresholds by measuring shares of survivors from the precommunist times in the population of Baltic countries by 1990. Our data confirm the hypothesis as in none of post-communist countries with demographic continuity below these thresholds there was property rights restitution.

Scandinavian Economic History Review , 2024

Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance, Jun 28, 2021

Since Norway’s formation as an independent sovereign state in 1814, its small open economy has, l... more Since Norway’s formation as an independent sovereign state in 1814, its small open economy has, like its neighboring countries, experienced significant economic growth. During the last several decades petroleum has made the country one of the wealthiest in the world. The main reason for the long-term growth seems to have been the ability to meet international demand by utilizing rich natural resources, adopting efficient technology, and drawing on the labor force in order to gain high productivity. Historical national accounts reveal that Norway’s wealth was close to the Western European average during the early 19th century. From the 1840s to the mid-1870s, Norwegian growth rates were clearly better than average. This period was followed by relative stagnation until the 1890s, when the country saw rapid industrialization based on hydroelectricity. After the two World Wars Norway adopted a social democratic rule, with a high degree of economic planning, called the Nordic model. This has contributed to a large public sector and evenly distributed wealth and resources. The discovery of oil and gas on the Norwegian continental shelf marked a new era, when Norway experienced higher growth rates than most Western economies. This has made it the country with the highest score in the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI) during the two first decades of the 21st century, despite a slowdown in growth after the financial crisis in 2008.

Social Science Research Network, 2021

The present paper seeks to investigate the importance of financial instability during four bankin... more The present paper seeks to investigate the importance of financial instability during four banking crises, with focus on the small open economy of Norway. The crises elaborated on are the Post First world war crisis of the early 1920s, the mid 1920s Monetary crisis, the Great Depression of the 1930s and the Scandinavian banking crisis of 1987-1993. The paper firstly offers a brief description of the financial instability hypothesis as applied by Minsky, Kindleberger, and in a new explicit dynamic financial crisis model. Financial instability creation basically happens in times of overheating, overspending and over lending, i.e., during significant booms, and have devastating effects after markets have turned into a state of crises. Thereafter, the paper tests the validity of the financial instability hypothesis by using a quantitative structural time series model. The test reveals upheaval of financial and macroeconomic indicators prior to the crises, making the economy overheat and create asset bubbles due to huge growth in debt. These conditions caused the following banking crises. Finally, the four crises are discussed qualitatively. The conclusion is that significant increase in money supply and debt caused overheating, asset bubbles and finally financial and banking crises which spread to the real economy.

Social Science Research Network, 2020

It is well known that protestant and puritan environments historically have fostered entrepreneur... more It is well known that protestant and puritan environments historically have fostered entrepreneurs. This paper looks at serial entrepreneurship which took place in Norway in the 19 th century in networks led by the puritan leader Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) and his followers. The paper seeks to give an overview of their entrepreneurship and discusses their motivation behind their actions. It concludes they were heavily engaged in serial entrepreneurship, not only within business, but also concerning, politics, welfare and education and that there was a clear religious motivation for their activities.

Social Science Research Network, 2019

This study aims to investigate the relationship of economic development, measured as economic gro... more This study aims to investigate the relationship of economic development, measured as economic growth, energy use, trade and foreign direct investment one the one hand and environmental degradation (carbon dioxide (hereafter CO2) emissions) on the other hand, in eleven emerging Eastern European countries during the period of 1990 to 2014. The empirical results support a carbon emission's Kuznets curve hypothesis for Eastern Europe. The current income level indicates that not every country has reached the turning point for CO2 emissions reduction goal. In addition, the study proves a positive effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on CO2 emissions in Eastern European countries. Also the results show that there is a negative effect of total energy consumption on environment as it increases CO2 emissions. Hence, there is a significant need of reforming the electricity markets that requires necessary improvement and attraction of investment, strong central political support, thorough preparation and continuous development. Income elasticities for CO2 are positive for all 11 countries. The paper concludes that within the group Ukraine and Kazakhstan has the most sensitive change in economic growth in respect to its CO2. It is expected that the innovative transition to a low-carbon economy offers great opportunities for economic growth and job creation. Technological leadership should be accompanied by the development and introduction of new technologies throughout Eastern European countries, hence, the paradigm of "sustainable development" should be considered. This requires the unification of the research, industry and financial sectors, as well as the support of state bodies.

Fagbokforlaget eBooks, 2002

Historisk tidsskrift, Mar 26, 2013

Scandinavian Economic History Review, Sep 1, 2000

... 1980, London & Canberra: Croom Helm 1983, 23-27; Nordvik, Helge W. & Honningdal Crytt... more ... 1980, London & Canberra: Croom Helm 1983, 23-27; Nordvik, Helge W. & Honningdal Crytten, Ola, The Labour Market, Unemployment and Economic Growth in Norway, 1920-1939, Scandinavian Economic History Review, vol. XLII, 1994: 2, 137-142; Ha-nisch, Tore Iergen & ...

Scandinavian Economic History Review, Aug 4, 2022

Stat & styring, Feb 1, 2012

Palgrave Macmillan UK eBooks, 2012

According to Willis, there are two main statistical measures that have been employed in recent re... more According to Willis, there are two main statistical measures that have been employed in recent research when investigating inflation dynamics. These are Volatility, or how much inflation varies quarter to quarter or year to year; and persistence, or the speed with which inflation returns to baseline after a shock’.1 Furthermore, ‘Other things equal, less persistence leads to less variability. Lower persistence is associated with faster but smaller swings in inflation over time that, in statistical terms, reduce the overall variability of inflation.’2

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2021

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, May 5, 2014

By drawing on information from public accounts from the nineteenth and twentieth century the pres... more By drawing on information from public accounts from the nineteenth and twentieth century the present paper aims at mapping the development of key financial indicators for the Norwegian central government sector. It concludes that growth in the size of this sector often, but clearly not always, reflects political economy regimes. The paper concludes that persistant growth in public finances as tool for control over the economy did not take place before the introduction of the social-democratic regime in 1935.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Apr 2, 2012

On the basis of availabale sources the present paper seeks to map entrepreneural industrial activ... more On the basis of availabale sources the present paper seeks to map entrepreneural industrial activities the Norwegian puritan revivalist Hans Nielsen Hauge (1771-1824) was involved in and quantify his financial activities. It also tries to map entrepreneural activities by his followers. The paper concludes that these activities must have played a decisive role for the economic development in Norway during the nineteenth century.

RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, Aug 4, 2015

The present paper offers new knowledge of historical national accounting in Norway in several way... more The present paper offers new knowledge of historical national accounting in Norway in several ways. Firstly, a new and novel set of annual gross domestic product series by industry are presented for the period 1830-1930. Secondly, the new estimates suggest revision of the historical national accounts published by Statistics Norway. Thirdly, this may lead to necessary revisions of both Norwegian industrial history and business cycle history.

Scandinavian Economic History Review, Aug 31, 2021

This is a very interesting book on conflicting interests in Norwegian trade policy, basically fro... more This is a very interesting book on conflicting interests in Norwegian trade policy, basically from 1970 until 2015. It is definitely worth reading for economic and political historians. It was first published in 2015 and came online in 2020. The editors clearly state in their introduction that Norway historically has been a trading economy, with international trade as an important factor for the economic, regional and cultural development, as a way of living. They also stress that openness when it comes to trade is part of its national identity. Despite public announcements of a high degree of political agreement in international trade questions, the editors argue that this politics contains considerable disagreements and conflicts of interests. This, in fact, represents the red thread of the book. The book holds a successful inter-disciplinary exercise with emphasis on economics, history and political science. It discusses political conditions for trade policy and economic consequences, all in a historical perspective. WTO is central as it stresses differences between multilateral and bilateral trade agreements. It is meant as both an academic analysis of the past and an input for future debate on trade policy. The editors’ departure is that classical conflicts of interests within trade policy often exist between offensive and defensive interests. The first ones have strong competitive power, and thus, prefer a liberal trade policy with open borders, when defensive industries with weak competitive power fear competition, and thus, demand protection of domestic markets. Since the 1970s, the Norwegian both the industrial and industrial policy developments have made fish and fish farming one of the ‘offensive’ actors, when agriculture and textile industries represent ‘defensive’ actor. Other offensive industries are oil and gas and maritime and marine services, which, however, are less impacted by trade policy. Here one could have elaborated more on the development of fisheries from being a defensive to an offensive industry.