The Index of Gross National Happiness as a complement to the limitations of traditional socio-economic models: The case of the Kingdom of Bhutan
Abstract
The following essay aims to review the limitations of traditional socio-economic models, such as the Gross Domestic Product per capita, to measure the quality of life and well-being, in nations with different conceptions, in the economics and consumption, to those that are applied in the West and within the orthodox economics. It will be described, in what sense, the qualitative studies, focused mainly on happiness, supplies the classic models that were commonly used in the previous century. Within this framework, the Gross National Happiness Index was devised and implemented in the Kingdom of Bhutan, a small Buddhist state located in the Himalayan region, between the People´s Republic of China and India, and unnoticed in the Western media when it comes to focusing on the Asian region. A brief review was also carried out and basic notions of this index were issued, which have, as a central guide, the Buddhist cosmovision reflected in their traditions, and how the Bhutanese government tries to spread it among the academic sectors abroad as a gateway for make visible their own reality visible. It is concluded that this type of instrument allows a deep understanding of those societies with different economic conceptions and, in addition, it´s necessary to draw the attention into those proposals that are far away from the mainstream knowledge.
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