Norway has five million people, but I would assume outsized results given the claims about the quality of the country courtesy of the immaculate welfare state and the money available for education. Being entirely serious.

My primary comparison is that, since the oil boom, their results have fallen off in nobel prizes, not significantly increased. And those two prizes they won in the last 40 years were for economics (they were winning them for chemistry and physics in the '60s / '70s).

Ireland has won five since 1974, they only have 4.5 million people, and no grand oil boom, and have only recently become well-off.

Denmark has 5.5 million people and have won four nobel prizes in those 40 years, for chemistry, physics, and physiology.

My point is: where are the results outside of energy production? We should be seeing amazing innovations, great technology, and big technology exports, incredible global contributions to science and break-throughs in medicine. I should be using phones designed by Norway, and software designed in Norway.

So where is it? There is absolutely no question Norway has created a high quality of life courtesy of the money from the oil boom, but what else have they done with it other than provide lots of money to live well (ie what do you have to show for it if the oil is gone in ten years)?