Norways Economy - Research Paper Example

Answer Norway has the highest VAT and Cooperate tax rate in the Europe. The reason behind such high taxes is its social welfare programs. The standard rate of VAT in Norway is 25% and it is charged on every VAT goods and services. The corporate tax is about 28% in Norway. Despite that it has decreased in last several years but still it is the country with having the heavy taxes in whole Europe. The proper utilization of resources and amount receive from taxes are the key factors boosting Norway's economy (Scottish Enterprise). Answer # 2. Norway has only one stock exchange at Oslo. The statistics as per May01, 1997 shows that the total number of firms affiliated with Oslo Stock Exchange was 179. We get to know while having a deeper look in this figure that 166 of the total listed companies were Norwegian, 13 of them were foreign where as 3 companies were listed in small and medium size business in which the 96.9% of market capitalization is of the domestic market. (Chapter 7-Banking and finance) Answer # 3.The estimated unemployment rate till 2006 was 3.5% and the inflation rate till the same year was 2.3%. (The World Factbook- Norway 2007) Answer # 4. According to the survey done in July 2007 the total estimated population of Norway are 4,627,926. The age structure in Norway population is categorized in three parts. The first of the total population is the people till the age 14 year. Second part is comprised of people between 15 to 64 and last part is of people with the age of 65 and above. A big majority of people is in the age structure of 15 to 64 is around 66.1% then the age till 0 to 14 years take around 19% and age group of 65 and above is around 14.8%. The median age of the people is around 38.7 years in Norway. The median age of men is 37.9 years and women are 39.6 years. (The World Factbook- Norway 2007) Answer # 5.According to Norway law it requires general disclosure under the securities trading act as well some other requirement of industries. The law of legal entitles ship of holding not more than 10% has been amended in 2003. The acquisition of more than 10% can be taken place with prior government permission. A license will be issued if the permission is granted. (Norway: Securities) Answer # 6.The television advertisement that is focusing on children and adolescents for marketing purpose is banned in Norway. The young people are the biggest market for them and play a vital as consumers. The advertisements that make feel children about the identity and self esteem affects them badly. The minors takes the effects of several things faster especially if some actions are shown it them. The government has put restriction on television advertisements during children's program to prevent them from bad affects. The minors take the affect of things bit faster. The government banned the advertisements in 2002 after the proposal report submitted by committee. In the result companies banned from advertising their products on the children programs in television and radio both. (Ban on Advertising to Children - Norway) Answer # 7.There are many companies actively investigating the market. One of which is TNS Gall up. It provides the research services in various sectors i.e. Bank & Finance, Post, Tourism, Automotive, Telecom, Internet, Media, FMCG, and Public Services. (TNS Gallup).Hugin Online also provides the services for financial information. It provides annual reports, press releases and financial statements of the listed with OSE. (Norwegian Stock Market) Answer # 8.Norway has the great employment rate of 70%. Its 71.9% of the total population is its workforce and 7.3% are absent due to sickness. The Norway enjoys the sufficient number of women employment that constitutes such employment rate. Approximately in every 10 women seven are employed while in men it's every 7 out of 8. There were few percentage of women were employed in 1970. The sound economic policies create a number of job opportunities for both men and women. There are also a number of men and women work part time. A big proportion of working i.e. 44% work part time where as 13% of men are also employed part time. Women working part time are most likely to work for more hours. The working hours for women and men have also been reduces in the same time. (Labour) Answer # 9.The economy of Norway is basically based on North Oil Sea and gas fields. Apart from the these economic backbones there are some other major industries that contribute a lot in the economy is fishery, pulp and paper, forestry, mining, manufacturing and shipping. Fishery plays a vital role in the prosperous economic conditions of Norway. It exports 90% of its production and have now become word's largest fish producer. (Facts About Norway) Answer # 10.During last several years Norway has shown much controlled over its exports and imports. In 1992 the total exports for notifiable waste was around 50'000 tons which in 2005 turned to 300,000 tons. The imports of Norway was stable till 1998 but it has seen a big boost in 2001 and it goes to 625000 tons that is the record in the history of this country, after 2001 the things gets better and better and at the it fully controlled with 200000 tons in 2005. (Norwegian Pollution Control Authority) Answer # 11.Norway has many political parties due to its multi dimensional party system. There are many parties. It has left and right dimensional parties. These parties are distributed in various concerns over pubic planning and control. In the left wing it includes several big parties i.e. Social left party and labor party where as on the right side the parties include i.e. the conservative party and the party of progress. A part from these parties there are other several parties including liberal party and political party etc. (Political priorities and parties) Answer # 12.The address of the country's government statistical office is Kongens gt. 6, postal address PO Box 8131 Dep, NO-0033 Oslo Tel +47 21 09 00 00 Fax +47 21 09 49 73 email address ssb@ssb.no Another address is Otervn. 23 PO Box 1260, NO-2201 Kongsvinger tel +47 62 88 50 00 Fax +47 62 88 50 30 email address ssb@ssb.no (Statistics Norway Statistisk Sentralbyra) Answer # 13.The three major online databases in Norway are Academic search Elite, Business source Elite and EconLit. Academic search elite is provides the detail information in around all the area of work. It is useful in every academic study and provides user a large variety of study material. Business source elite gives you the access to full text around 1200 business publication and economic journals with more than 500 peer-reviewed publications. Trough Econlit the user may the access to numerous journal articles, books, dissertations etc. it helps in getting the access to various economic theories and history based articles. (Databases by subject) Answer # 14.VG, Aftenposten, Bondebladet and Dagbladet are the top selling new papers circulating in the Norway. Kapital and Economist and Magazinet are the magazines of general public interest in the country. (Norway Newspapers and News Media Guide) Answer # 15.DnB NOR Bank and Landkreditt Bank are the two leading banks in Norway situated in Oslo. (Anti Money Laundering in Norway) Answer # 16.The population growth rate is around 0.363% with the birth rate of 11.27 in the population 1000 and death rate of 9.37 in 1000 population. The life expectancy is approximately 79.67 years. The life expectancies in male are around 77.04 years and for female it is around 82.46 years and HIV is the major cause of death in middle age people. (The World Factbook- Norway 2007). Answer # 17.The proportion of children born through unmarried parents is getting higher and higher in Norway in last several years. The parents live together as family without bothering of getting married. It's now reach to more than 50% of total children have the unmarried parents which was around 10% in 1970. This societal change has occurred during last 30 years. The northern part of the Norway has got the highest percentage of unmarried children as compared to the Southern part. (More babies have unmarried parents) Answer # 18.The education system in Norway is probably one of the best education systems of the world. The education is free from 6 to 16 and also compulsory as well. The majority of the people go for secondary education from upper secondary school, colleges and universities. Some people also go for specialized education in their respective fields. (Facts About Norway) Answer # 19(a). Under the Norwegian law no one can trade in any listed shares that has the insider information about the securities or any element that can affect the prices of the securities. This law only pertains if the insider information is misused in any manner. After july01, 2001 the policies regarding insider dealings or trading become stricter. (Norway: Securities) Answer # 19(b). Any company that wants to merge with another company has to take clearance from Norwegian Competition Authority. The mergence and acquisition are checked and than the companies are granted the permission to merge. (Norway: Securities) Answer # 20.Veidekke is the market leader in Scandinavian building contractor and property with having 600 employees. The company employees hold 14% of the total shares. It has been involved in construction and development business like construction of houses, buildings, commercial projects, roads constructions and recycling of waste etc. the annual turn over in 2006 was NOK 16.4 billion and profit before tax was NOK 923 million. The figures are more than what it had in 2005 and it earned 13% more profit as compared to 2005. (Veidekke breaks its own records) Blom has become a leading technology company in last several years. The profit was tax of Blom in 2005 was NOK 37.5 million with sales turn over of NOK 274.9 million. (Report For 3rd Quarter 2005) Grocery retailing and wholesaling cooperative NorgesGruppen is the largest Norway enterprise. It controls 36.7% of the total grocery markets. It has the turn over of 31.5 billion with the profit before tax is 912 million. The company engages around 25000 employees. (Horn Forlag AS Norway Online) References Anti Money Laundering in Norway. Online. Available http://www.aml.in/prac/geo/eu/sc/no/no.html (21August, 2007) Ban on Advertising to Children - Norway. The Information Sector . Online. Available http://www.newrules.org/info/norban.html (21August, 2007) Chapter 7-Banking and finance. . Online. Available. http://e-fpo.fpo.go.th/e-fiscal/PWGuides/individualguides/DOCS/wcd0000d/wcd00d7e.htm(21August, 2007) Counter Overview. Encyclopedia of the Nations. Online. Available http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/economies/Europe/Norway.html (21August, 2007) Databases By Subject. University of Stavanger .2007. http://www.uis.no/about_us/university_library/databases/databases_by_subject/article6121-2994.html . Online. Available. (21August, 2007) Facts About Norway. Verdens Gang AS. Online. Available http://www.vg.no/vg/norway/ (21August, 2007) Horn Forlag. Horn Forlag AS Norway Online. Online. Available http://www.norwayonline.no/chapter=162&cat=28&disp=17 (21August, 2007) Labour. Statistics Norway Statistisk Sentralbyra. Online. Available. http://www.ssb.no/arbeid_en/ (21August, 2007) More babies have unmarried parents. 2003. Online. Available http://www.norway-shockers.com/Unmarried%20Parents.htm (21August, 2007) Norway Newspapers and News Media Guide. ABYZ News Links. Online. Available http://www.abyznewslinks.com/norwa.htm (21August, 2007) Norway: Securities. International Financial Law Review. Online. Available http://www.iflr.com/Page=17&ISS=16158&SID=508129 (21August, 2007) Norwegian Pollution Control Authority. 2007 State of the Environment Norway. Import and export Online. Available http://www.environment.no/templates/themepage____2288.aspx (21August, 2007) Norwegian Stock Market. 1998. Online Shopping. Online. Available http://www.site-by-site.com/europe/nor/astock.htm (21August, 2007) Political priorities and parties. The Official Website In The UK Online. Available http://www.norway.org.uk/facts/political/priorities/priorities.htm (21August, 2007) Report For 3rd Quarter 2005 . Online. Available http://www.blomasa.com/en/news/stock-exchange-notifications/2005-10-27-(1) (21August, 2007) Scottish Enterprise. Market entry and starting your business. Online. Available http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/sedotcom_home/services_to_business_international/eo/eo-market-info/norway/norway-market_entry_and_starting_your_business.htm#norway_taxes (21August, 2007) Statistics Norway Statistisk Sentralbyra. Online. Available http://www.ssb.no/english/about_ssb/contacts/ (21August, 2007) The World Factbook- Norway 2007. CIA. Online. Available. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/no.html(21August, 2007) TNS Gallup. TNS. Online. Available http://text.tns-global.com/where-are-tns/europe/norway.htm (21August, 2007) Veidekke breaks its own records. 2007. Online. Available http://www.infrasite.nl/news/news_article.phpID_nieuwsberichten=6557&language=en (21August, 2007) Read More