Bhutan and Gross National Happiness

Is there a trade off between wealth and well-being? I missed this Newsnight report from Mark Easton which appeared on BBC2 last month - but came across it whilst revising my work schemes for our new courses next year. This is a terrific eight minute video on life in the absolute monarchy of Bhutan - a country without traffic lights and which has banned plastic bags and adverts for Pepsi and Coca Cola. The video clip is excellent perhaps as an introduction to discussion on living standards or even the basic economic problem.

Tim Harford’s essay on happiness which was published a couple of years ago is still well worth a read.

Unit 1 Micro: Sleep, Money, Happiness and Choices! [25 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
Development Econ: Wealth and Inequality in China [10 Jun 2011]
A2 Micro: Market Structure, Conduct & Performance [19 May 2011]
RES Essay Competition - Happiness Economics [7 Apr 2011]
Happiness and Prosperity and the Equation that Links the Two [23 Jan 2011]
Revision: Types of Economic Efficiency [2 Dec 2010]
Economics at the Movies - Four Yorkshiremen and Happiness Economics [31 Oct 2010]
Video resources on consumption and saving [7 Oct 2010]
Data Mining on Global Poverty [14 Sep 2010]
The Happy Planet Index [30 Aug 2010]
Finding new opportunities among the economic wreckage [1 Jun 2010]
RES Essay Competition - Inequality Title [1 Apr 2010]
Carlos Slim - Monopoly and a Licence to Print Money [12 Mar 2010]
Assorted Links (27 Jan 2010): Focus on poverty and inequality [27 Jan 2010]
New figures show extent of wealth inequality in the UK [11 Dec 2009]
Marx and the labour theory of value [7 Sep 2009]
Consumer Spending and Saving in the UK Economy [18 Aug 2009]
Happiness (or subjective well-being) in the spotlight [9 Aug 2009]
Status races - PTA school fete wars hot up [27 Jun 2009]
Revision - Labour Market Failure (presentation) [27 May 2009]
Revision: Short Note on Government Intervention [22 May 2009]
A2 Micro: Contestable Markets [15 May 2009]
Revision: Deflation in Residential and Commercial Property [14 May 2009]
Q&A: What is the Easterlin Paradox? [1 Apr 2009]
Bootle on Deflation [25 Jan 2009]
Apprenticeships and Economic Performance [29 Dec 2008]
Trends in UK Income Inequality [17 Dec 2008]
Contestable Markets – The Market for Smart-Phones [16 Dec 2008]
SPEW [1 Dec 2008]
Could the UK budget deficit reach £100bn? [21 Oct 2008]
Why do we need economic growth? [19 Oct 2008]
Hedge trimming [15 Oct 2008]
Investing the proceeds of the oil bonanza [8 Sep 2008]
Business with a social face [13 Aug 2008]
Telling it like it is [7 Aug 2008]
Unjust rewards? [4 Aug 2008]
Tim Harford on behavioural studies [28 Jun 2008]
Economist on the Endowment Affect [23 Jun 2008]
Economics board games [17 Jun 2008]
12 Must Revise Topics for A2 [18 May 2008]
Two weeks to the RES deadline! [28 Apr 2008]
Brazil’s widening wealth gap [28 Apr 2008]
Labour’s failure on inequality [28 Apr 2008]
Revision: Labour Market Failure [21 Apr 2008]
The social curse of the property boom [19 Apr 2008]
Revision: Natural Monopolies [17 Apr 2008]
More to life than GDP? [8 Apr 2008]
Measuring the Black Economy [3 Apr 2008]
The most powerful law in the world? [11 Mar 2008]
Robert Frank on Income and Happiness [9 Mar 2008]
Signs of a negative “wealth effect” for the USA? [6 Mar 2008]
Getting people back into work [5 Feb 2008]

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