Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan

27 Pages Posted: 13 Feb 2019

See all articles by Sriram Balasubramanian

Sriram Balasubramanian

International Monetary Fund

Paul Anthony Cashin

International Monetary Fund (IMF)

Date Written: January 2019

Abstract

This paper examines the origins and use of the concept of Gross National Happiness (or subjective well-being) in the Kingdom of Bhutan, and the relationship between measured well-being and macroeconomic indicators. While there are only a few national surveys of Gross National Happiness in Bhutan, the concept has been used to guide public policymaking for the country's various Five-Year Plans. Consistent with the Easterlin Paradox, available evidence indicates that Bhutan's rapid increase in national income is only weakly associated with increases in measured levels of well-being. It will be important for Bhutan to undertake more frequent Gross National Happiness surveys and evaluations, to better build evidence for comovement of well-being and macroeconomic concepts such as real national income.

Keywords: Gross domestic product, National income, Health, Population, real income, gross national happiness, Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement, General

JEL Classification: D63, I30, O10

Suggested Citation

Balasubramanian, Sriram and Cashin, Paul Anthony, Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan (January 2019). IMF Working Paper No. 19/15, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3333739

Sriram Balasubramanian (Contact Author)

International Monetary Fund ( email )

700 19th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20431
United States

Paul Anthony Cashin

International Monetary Fund (IMF) ( email )

700 19th Street NW
Washington, DC 20431
United States

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