Gross National Happiness Index

Unit 2

Gross National Happiness Index

Minimum Needs ensures human dignity and is a better base of a science of resource allocation than marginal utility.

Supereconomics Juan
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The Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index has been in part of the Constitution of Bhutan since July 18, 2008.

It is made up of 4 pillars:

  1. Sustainable and Equitable Socioeconomic Development
  2. Environmental Conservation
  3. Culture
  4. Good Governance

It also has 9 domains which we arrange into our hierarchy:

  1. Living Standards
  2. Ecological Resilience
  3. Mental health
  4. Education
  5. Health
  6. Community
  7. Time Use
  8. Culture
  9. Governance

It is administered by a Gross National Happiness Index Commission that is tasked to:

  • come up with 5-year plans
  • administer the GNH survey
Needs
We can use the Gross National Happiness Index of Bhutan as an implementation of the Supereconomic Hierarchy of Needs

After food, clothing and lodging are the two great wants of mankind.

Adam Smith
Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations, Book 1 Chapter 11

The economic authority of a country, such as the Bureau of Economic Research in the US can be overhauled to implement the GNH in their respective countries.

The Net Domestic Product will be absorbed by the Living Standards Domain or the Material Strata.

Needs Policies

The Needs Policies refer to laws and regulations that directly affect the Minimum Needs:

  1. Agriculture and Water
  2. Transportation and Infrastructure
  3. Energy and Telecoms
  4. Healthcare and Insurance
  5. Pension

These will be discussed in their own subchapters.

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