30% of the population of North Dakota is of Norwegian ancestry. Not that it has anything to do with their economy. Just an interesting historical coincidence.

Parts of Europe are sinking in debt. Norway, after all, is a European nation state.

Well, for various values of working, the system appears to be working!

The economists that say the US going deep into debt is a good thing, are simply wrong, and their theories are based on wrong economics (the very wrong economics that have been eroding the US economy for decades). Their scenarios assume low interest rates forever, which is about the dumbest notion one could ever assume in nation-state economics when a lot of debt is involved.

I'm not aware that any economists say that having less money is better than having more money, everything else being equal.

Many economists say that austerity measures like cutting infrastructure spending and public health care hurts the economy more than it helps in the long run. You'll probably find Norway in that camp, considering their social welfare, universal health care and free higher education.

Norway has only ever been debt free on two occasions: The end of World War I (because we were neutral, and making huge profits with our huge merchant fleet) and World War II (because most of our debts were written off combined with aid).

The only reason our net position currently is as good as it is, is the oil combined with the realisation that spending all that oil money would drive inflation through the roof.

Surprisingly, different economic circumstances call for different approaches.

Norway is swimming in money from exported oil. Countries with balanced foreign trade need a different approach to the macro-economy.