Gross national happiness

Dear students,

This is to faciliate online discussion based on school curriculum so everyone is to participate. I have attached the article below and the link to a video http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4782636.stm.

Answer the 2 questions below:


“The concept of gross national happiness (GNH) was developed in an attempt to define an indicator that measures quality of life or social progress in more holistic and psychological terms than gross national product or GDP. As a chief economic indicator, GDP has numerous flaws long known to economists. GDP measures the amount of commerce in a country, but counts remedial and defensive expenditures (such as the costs of security, police, pollution clean up, etc.) as positive contributions to commerce.[1] A better measure of economic well-being would deduct such costs, and add in other non-market benefits (such as volunteer work, unpaid domestic work, and unpriced ecosystem services) in arriving at an indicator of well-being. As economic development on the planet approaches or surpasses the limits of ecosystems to provide resources and absorb human effluents, calling into question the ability of the planet to continue to support civilization (per the arguments of Jared Diamond, among others), many people have called for getting "Beyond GDP" (the title of a recent EU conference) in order to measure progress not as the mere increase in commercial transations, nor as an increase in specifically economic well-being, but as an increase in general well-being as people themselves subjectively report it. GNH is a strong contributor to this movement to discard measurements of commercial transactions as a key indicator and to instead directly assess changes in the social and psychological well-being of populations.
The term was coined in 1972 by Bhutan's former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who has opened up Bhutan to the age of modernization, soon after the demise of his father, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. He used the phrase to signal his commitment to building an economy that would serve Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values. “

You should then be able to engage your friends in a forum. (Look at two questions.)
a) Do you expect that the pursuit of happiness will mean a sacrifice of economic growth in Singapore?
b) Why is it that no other country chooses the GNH for their policies on economic growth and resource allocation but continue to study its wider good and spiritual benefits?