Friday, September 20, 2013
Bhutan targets to be self reliant by 2020
The much awaited 11th five-year plan (2013-2018) got approved in the Parliament yesterday. The main objective of the plan is to become self-reliant by 2020, whereby all the national development needs shall be met from the domestic revenues.
This ambitious target is heavily dependent on the timely completion of ongoing mega hydro-power projects, which targets to achieve 10,000 mega watts by 2020.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
New Government, New Five-Year Plan and New Focus
New government will be focusing on stimulating economic growth, addressing rupee shortage and generating employment for the first year (2013-14) of 11th Five Year Plan. A whopping budget of Nu. 54 billion is kept for the year.
Monday, July 9, 2012
March 20 International Happiness Day
United Nations have declared March 20 to be observed as International Happiness Day and asked all nations to join in the fun.
For Bhutan, it is not just the mere fun but a biggest achievement in being able to convince international community on the importance of other aspects of life. In recognition to that and in exemplifying the importance of the day, National Assembly this July has proposed the day to be declared as national holiday.
Rather than declaring it as a national holiday, my recommendation would be to dedicate the day to come up with innovative ideas and programmes contributing towards sustainable happiness. Government agencies, NGOs, private sector, and other institutions could come up with something very simple and concrete programs for the day such as tree plantation, volunteering, traditional games,pilgrimage or even family picnics.
For Bhutan, it is not just the mere fun but a biggest achievement in being able to convince international community on the importance of other aspects of life. In recognition to that and in exemplifying the importance of the day, National Assembly this July has proposed the day to be declared as national holiday.
Rather than declaring it as a national holiday, my recommendation would be to dedicate the day to come up with innovative ideas and programmes contributing towards sustainable happiness. Government agencies, NGOs, private sector, and other institutions could come up with something very simple and concrete programs for the day such as tree plantation, volunteering, traditional games,pilgrimage or even family picnics.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Japan to adopt GNH Index
According to various media sources, Japanese Government is working towards developing GNH index to measure the standard of living. Japanese GNH Index is expected to have three areas, which being economic and social conditions, mental and physical wellbeing, and family and social connections. The survey is expected to be carried out in 2012.
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Special Edition: Royal Wedding
His Majesty the Fifth Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wanchuck will wed Jetsun Pema on 13 October 2011 coinciding with 16th day of 8th Month of Iron Female Rabbit Year under Bhutanese Lunar Calendar.
Every Bhutanese is excited about it and in festive mood. That day will no doubtedly bring happiness to every Bhutanese. I will be posting some pictures later from both preparation and from the actual wedding celebration.
Wish them happy wedding and may continue to be gaurdians of peace and happiness in Bhutan.
Every Bhutanese is excited about it and in festive mood. That day will no doubtedly bring happiness to every Bhutanese. I will be posting some pictures later from both preparation and from the actual wedding celebration.
Wish them happy wedding and may continue to be gaurdians of peace and happiness in Bhutan.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Olson's theory applied to Bhutan's accession to WTO
The following article that I wrote was published by KUENSEL on 7th August 2010.
It is a common view among both decision makers and general public, at least at the back of their mind, that the reason why Bhutan hasn’t yet joined World Trade Organization (WTO) is because of ideological differences between social scientists and the capitalist economists. It is perceived that while most economists advise Bhutan to join WTO, social scientists do not favour the idea of Bhutan joining WTO. However, it can be argued that if we go by the truest concepts of economics, even the economists would rather advocate against joining WTO without necessarily agreeing to the ideologies of social scientists.
The argument here is solely based on Mancur Olson’s theory of collective action from his first book titled ‘The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups’ written in 1965. Mancur Olson (1932-1998) was a leading American economist and social scientist. His theory of collective action is based on the economists’ core assumption of rational choice, wherein an activity is determined by cost-benefit analysis.
His theory challenges the common assumption that when interests existed in a society, groups with special concerns or interests would naturally form organizations to represent those interests. Based on the rational choice assumption, Olson reasons that participation in a group to represent an interest is neither rational nor natural unless the desired objective is maximized with a minimal cost of achieving it. Therefore, if the cost far surpasses benefit, and the organization exists, the rational thing an individual or a group ought to be doing in this case is to be a free-rider. He explains that, however, those individual or a group with higher stake in the common interests will join an organization even if the cost is higher because without their participation, the organization to represent their interests will not come into existence.
WTO was formed by a group of countries in achieving their common interest of accessing global market, which is being moderately achieved. However, the major players or beneficiaries of WTO are the developed countries and the common interest has never been fairly distributed. Therefore, it is in the interest of those countries with high stake to keep the organization functioning and keep persuading non-member countries to join them.
Nevertheless, we have benefited a lot from the fierce global market competition among WTO members. The prices of goods and services have become cheaper, especially in the area of information and communication technology, which helped Bhutan’s socio-economic development by many folds.
Having said that, should Bhutan join WTO? The answer is straight NO going by Olson’s logic of collective action. Joining the league of WTO involves costs. Apart from financial costs, other important costs include losing control over regulations of important areas such as environment, markets, immigration, agriculture, etc. Most importantly, it can have political costs too. Therefore, following Olson’s theory of collective action based on rational choice and self-interest, it would not be rational for Bhutan to join WTO. It makes little sense for Bhutan to accept the costs when we have the choice of not bearing the costs and availing the benefits of cheaper goods and services without being a WTO member. The rational choice for Bhutan in this situation is to be a free-rider by not joining WTO, reaping the benefits of global competition without having to abide by WTO rules.
The above argument is solely based on one theory. There could be many other theories, cases, logics, evidences which could feed into our policy decisions. This can help decision makers to look at one issue from various perspectives. Bhutanese public policies and decisions should gradually move away from normative reasoning.
-Sonam Tobgyal
It is a common view among both decision makers and general public, at least at the back of their mind, that the reason why Bhutan hasn’t yet joined World Trade Organization (WTO) is because of ideological differences between social scientists and the capitalist economists. It is perceived that while most economists advise Bhutan to join WTO, social scientists do not favour the idea of Bhutan joining WTO. However, it can be argued that if we go by the truest concepts of economics, even the economists would rather advocate against joining WTO without necessarily agreeing to the ideologies of social scientists.
The argument here is solely based on Mancur Olson’s theory of collective action from his first book titled ‘The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Groups’ written in 1965. Mancur Olson (1932-1998) was a leading American economist and social scientist. His theory of collective action is based on the economists’ core assumption of rational choice, wherein an activity is determined by cost-benefit analysis.
His theory challenges the common assumption that when interests existed in a society, groups with special concerns or interests would naturally form organizations to represent those interests. Based on the rational choice assumption, Olson reasons that participation in a group to represent an interest is neither rational nor natural unless the desired objective is maximized with a minimal cost of achieving it. Therefore, if the cost far surpasses benefit, and the organization exists, the rational thing an individual or a group ought to be doing in this case is to be a free-rider. He explains that, however, those individual or a group with higher stake in the common interests will join an organization even if the cost is higher because without their participation, the organization to represent their interests will not come into existence.
WTO was formed by a group of countries in achieving their common interest of accessing global market, which is being moderately achieved. However, the major players or beneficiaries of WTO are the developed countries and the common interest has never been fairly distributed. Therefore, it is in the interest of those countries with high stake to keep the organization functioning and keep persuading non-member countries to join them.
Nevertheless, we have benefited a lot from the fierce global market competition among WTO members. The prices of goods and services have become cheaper, especially in the area of information and communication technology, which helped Bhutan’s socio-economic development by many folds.
Having said that, should Bhutan join WTO? The answer is straight NO going by Olson’s logic of collective action. Joining the league of WTO involves costs. Apart from financial costs, other important costs include losing control over regulations of important areas such as environment, markets, immigration, agriculture, etc. Most importantly, it can have political costs too. Therefore, following Olson’s theory of collective action based on rational choice and self-interest, it would not be rational for Bhutan to join WTO. It makes little sense for Bhutan to accept the costs when we have the choice of not bearing the costs and availing the benefits of cheaper goods and services without being a WTO member. The rational choice for Bhutan in this situation is to be a free-rider by not joining WTO, reaping the benefits of global competition without having to abide by WTO rules.
The above argument is solely based on one theory. There could be many other theories, cases, logics, evidences which could feed into our policy decisions. This can help decision makers to look at one issue from various perspectives. Bhutanese public policies and decisions should gradually move away from normative reasoning.
-Sonam Tobgyal
Friday, July 23, 2010
Cutting down working hours for happiness
How one uses time is an important factor for both collective and individual happiness. In general, one works for long hours either to accomplish his/her basic needs or to fulfill the requirements of employment rules.
While former one pertains to economic dimension, which calls for more complex economic interventions, the latter one can be directly addressed by government policy on time use as follows:
1. Office hours- Reduce office hours from 8 hours to 7 hours (9:30 am to 4:30 pm)
While we claim that our development approach is different from capitalist countries, we are still following their working hours of 8 hours. If we are serious about the time use (one of GNH dimensions) in relation to time spent with family and reducing work related stress, cutting down woking hours from 8 hours to 7 hours will have huge impact on relationship with family, stress level and other social aspects.
2. Maternity leave- Increase maternity leave from 3 months to 6 months
The most integral aspect of GNH concept is to put people at the center stage in the policy making process as opposed to that of capitalist world where financial cost-benefit analysis determines the decision making process.
We may not be able to afford social welfare system similar to Scandinavian countries, where paid maternity leave starts from 10 to 12 months. Nevertheless, our stress on balancing material wellbeing and social wellbeing justifies enough to increase the current system of maternity leave from 3 months to 6 months.
While former one pertains to economic dimension, which calls for more complex economic interventions, the latter one can be directly addressed by government policy on time use as follows:
1. Office hours- Reduce office hours from 8 hours to 7 hours (9:30 am to 4:30 pm)
While we claim that our development approach is different from capitalist countries, we are still following their working hours of 8 hours. If we are serious about the time use (one of GNH dimensions) in relation to time spent with family and reducing work related stress, cutting down woking hours from 8 hours to 7 hours will have huge impact on relationship with family, stress level and other social aspects.
2. Maternity leave- Increase maternity leave from 3 months to 6 months
The most integral aspect of GNH concept is to put people at the center stage in the policy making process as opposed to that of capitalist world where financial cost-benefit analysis determines the decision making process.
We may not be able to afford social welfare system similar to Scandinavian countries, where paid maternity leave starts from 10 to 12 months. Nevertheless, our stress on balancing material wellbeing and social wellbeing justifies enough to increase the current system of maternity leave from 3 months to 6 months.
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