This book explores the practices of governance in Bhutan and how they shape the implementation of the country’s Gross National Happiness (GNH) development strategy. The author examines whether Bhutan’s innovative GNH governance framework successfully navigates competing power dynamics and generates the intended human development outcomes of Gross National Happiness. The analysis is structured around a comparison of the implementation of four GNH development policies – tourism, media, farm roads and human/wildlife conflict – and their larger implications on power, governance and the human development paradigm in Bhutan and beyond.

The author analyzes evidence and empirical research to determine which groups are the happiest in America; and offers suggestions on how the government can help individuals maximize their happiness.

Describes the principal findings of happiness researchers, assesses the strengths and weaknesses of such research, and looks at how governments could use results when formulating policies to improve the lives of citizens.

Guide book for learning colloquialism & honorific.

Gross domestic product is arguably the best-known statistic in the contemporary world, and certainly amongst the most powerful. It drives government policy and sets priorities in a variety of vital social fields - from schooling to healthcare. Yet for perhaps the first time since it was invented in the 1930s, this popular icon of economic growth has come to be regarded by a wide range of people as a 'problem'. After all, does our quality of life really improve when our economy grows 2 or 3 per cent? Can we continue to sacrifice the environment to safeguard a vision of the world based on the illusion of infinite economic growth? Lorenzo Fioramonti takes apart the 'content' of GDP - what it measures, what it doesn't and why - and reveals the powerful political interests that have allowed it to dominate today's economies. In doing so, he demonstrates just how little relevance GDP has to moral principles such as equity, social justice and redistribution, and shows that an alternative is possible, as evinced by the 'de-growth' movement and initiatives such as transition towns. A startling insight into the politics of a number that has come to dominate our everyday lives.

Bhutan is a country in the Himalayas with a relatively new education system and a unique governmental philosophy known as Gross National Happiness. This book explores the history, culture, challenges, and opportunities of schooling in Bhutan. It discusses topics including historical perspectives on Buddhist monastic education, the regional and international influence on educational development, traditional medical education, higher education, and the evolution of Bhutanese educational policy, to name but a few. It also investigates contemporary challenges to schooling in Bhutan such as adult education, inclusive education, early childhood education, rurality, and gender. Throughout the book, the developmental philosophy of Gross National Happiness is explored as a novel and culturally vital approach to education in Bhutan. The majority of the authors are prominent Bhutanese scholars and educational leaders, with select non-Bhutanese international scholars with strong links to Bhutan also contributing. This book is a valuable resource not only for those specifically interested in education in Bhutan, but for anyone with an interest in South Asian studies, general Asian studies, educational development, comparative education, Buddhist education, and the Gross National Happiness development philosophy.

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.

Bhutan is the only mixed-market, democratic nation in the world founded on Buddhist principles and values, rather than Western-liberal ones. This book explains Bhutan's unique model of democracy and economic development, its philosophical foundations and its practical relevance as an alternative approach to today's political and economic challenges.

We all know we should give to charity, but who really does? In his controversial study of America's giving habits, Arthur C. Brooks shatters stereotypes about charity in America-including the myth that the political Left is more compassionate than the Right. Brooks, a preeminent public policy expert, spent years researching giving trends in America, and even he was surprised by what he found. In Who Really Cares, he identifies the forces behind American charity: strong families, church attendance, earning one's own income (as opposed to receiving welfare), and the belief that individuals-not government-offer the best solution to social ills. But beyond just showing us who the givers and non-givers in America really are today, Brooks shows that giving is crucial to our economic prosperity, as well as to our happiness, health, and our ability to govern ourselves as a free people.