Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan
27 Pages Posted: 13 Feb 2019
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: Suggested Citation