Gross National Happiness: Can Environmental Economics Offer a Way Forward?

The aim of this article is to suggest that economic planning concepts and tools currently exist which might be of practical interest to those individuals working within the Royal Government of Bhutan (RGOB) who are responsible for interpreting and applying in practice the concept of Gross National Happiness (GNH). The suggestions presented in this paper are heavily indebted to the work of Professor David Pearce and others at the Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment in England. His purpose is to encourage Bhutanese officials to benefit from on-going intellectual effort driven largely by growing environmental concerns in other countries.