Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan

January 17, 2019

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Sriram Balasubramanian, and Paul Cashin. Gross National Happiness and Macroeconomic Indicators in the Kingdom of Bhutan, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2019) accessed November 23, 2024

Disclaimer: IMF Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to encourage debate. The views expressed in IMF Working Papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the views of the IMF, its Executive Board, or IMF management.

Summary

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.

Subject: Education, Health, Housing, Income, National accounts, Poverty, Poverty reduction

Keywords: Bhutan, Global, GNH framework, GNH index, GNH indicator, GNH objective, GNH policy, GNH survey, GNH tool, Gross domestic product, Gross national happiness, Housing, Income, Indicator, Poverty reduction, Real GDP, Real income, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

26
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2019/015
Stock No:

WPIEA2019015
ISBN:

9781484389713
ISSN:

1018-5941

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