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Jessica Hillis

Radler

Macroeconomics

25 September 2007

GDP vs. GNH

Money is an extremely precious commodity in the modern world. Money can buy

you just about anything, which is why countries like the United States, Great Britain,

Germany and Russia measure their economy wealth in GDP, or gross domestic product.

But not all countries measure in GDP, some countries, like the country of Bhutan, mea-

sures their economy wealth a little differently. They measure in GNH, or gross national

happiness.

The small country of Bhutan, located in the Himalayans, does not see money as

much of the rest of the world does. The people of Bhutan do not have as many material

possessions as the people of the United States, and therefore do not have as much of a use

for money. Even though Americans seem to need money to be happy or at peace, the peo-

ple of this small nation don’t need money to feel the same way.

American families nowadays have to constantly be trying to earn more money.

Parents have to be working full-time, the children need to be put into daycare, they need

to be educated, and food needs to be supplied for the families to survive. The stress level

in the United States, as well as many other first world countries is highly elevated, as op-

posed to the stress level of the families of Bhutan. Bhutanese families all work together

on farms or at homes, tending to animals or other small home-based businesses, allowing

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families to spend more time together. American families are constantly in school or at

work, lessening the amount of time they have to spend with each other.

Though Bhutanese people have much less money than Americans, their happiness

seems to be higher because they have no use for money. Trade in Bhutan deals with ani-

mals or food, or handcrafted articles of clothing or weaponry. In America, everything that

could possibly be bought or sold can only be done so with the use of money. With that

money, Americans are always trying to get just a little bit more, while Bhutanese people

know what they have and don’t feel the need to upgrade their lives. They’re content with

the way their lives are, while Americans seem to not be as content.

GDP is an important concept in many first world countries, as the economy of

those countries is always changing, either positively or negatively. The economies of

countries like Bhutan is so small, that they rarely change, which make a system like

tracking GDP obsolete. GNH is a better way to work because the people have no use for

money, they have more opportunities to be happy and content with that they own and

what they know they can get, as opposed to Americans, who are constantly exchanging

money, or gaining or losing money. Happiness is less apparent when people are con-

stantly wrapped up in money affairs. Americans are less happy because the economy is

so large, while the Bhutanese are happy with less money and a smaller economy.