Norway: When profit and ethics converge

THE FUTURE of the country's oil resources has taken an innovative turn with the government's appointment of an expert in moral philosophy to reflect on the ethical management of Norway's oil wealth. Based at the central bank, Norges, 39-year old Henrik Syse has left his research position at the University of Oslo's ethics programme to join 120 analysts that manage the world's biggest public investment fund. The $198bn fund was set up in 1990 to save the petrodollars of the world's third-largest oil exporter, investing it in stocks and bonds for future generations. Syse's role in what is already a socially responsible fund is, in his view, to "step up the role of corporate governance". The fu