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• Case | HBS Case Collection | December 2014 (Revised May 2019)

  Bhutan: Governing for Happiness

  Sophus A. Reinert, Thomas Humphrey and Benjamin Safran

  Unique among the world’s countries, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan had abandoned the traditional policy goal of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in favor of pursuing Gross National Happiness (GNH). Famously, Bhutan ranked highly on lists of the happiest countries in spite of a tumultuous history, low life expectancy, a dismal literacy rate, a small and undiversified economy, and low GDP per capita. Everyone, it seemed, from tourists and Hollywood screenwriters to leading development economists, looked to Bhutan for enlightenment and perspective on crises both personal and global. GNH had become the country’s brand and suggested a possible future for capitalism. Was Bhutan on to something? Was there really a tradeoff between growth and happiness, and, if so, was it acceptable? In early 2014, Bhutan’s newly minted Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay was faced with these questions as he deliberated on whether to approve a massive new Bhutanese-Indian hydropower collaboration that experts argued would provide energy, foreign exchange, and invaluable jobs, but which also risked undermining the country’s brand as well as its happiness.

  Keywords: Happiness; Economic Growth; Governance; Cost vs Benefits; Bhutan;

  Citation:

  Reinert, Sophus A., Thomas Humphrey, and Benjamin Safran. "Bhutan: Governing for Happiness." Harvard Business School Case 715-024, December 2014. (Revised May 2019.)  View Details

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• Teaching Note | HBS Case Collection | February 2019

  Angola Starts Now

  Jeremy Friedman and Sophus A. Reinert

  Teaching Note for HBS No. 719-007.

  Citation:

  Friedman, Jeremy, and Sophus A. Reinert. "Angola Starts Now." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 719-058, February 2019.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2019

  Angola Starts Now

  Jeremy Friedman and Sophus A. Reinert

  After five centuries of colonialism, four decades of civil war, an extended experiment with Marxism-Leninism, and nearly four decades of rule by a single man, José Eduardo Dos Santos, Angola finally has a chance to realize its enormous economic potential. A country blessed with enormous resources of oil, gold, and diamonds, it also has some of the most fertile remaining untilled land in Africa. However, since the end of fighting in 2002, Angola’s vast wealth has been squandered by a small elite tied to the single party that has ruled the country since independence, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA). In a country with a per capita GDP of over $4,000, the vast majority of the population subsists on less than $2 per day, and little investment has been made in infrastructure, education, and healthcare. Can the country’s—and the MPLA’s—new president, João Lourenço, implement the necessary reforms to unlock Angola’s economic potential, or will the existing power structure prevent the sort of change that is required if Angola’s people are to finally see the benefits of independence?

  Keywords: Development Economics; Government and Politics; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Issues; Angola;

  Citation:

  Friedman, Jeremy, and Sophus A. Reinert. "Angola Starts Now." Harvard Business School Case 719-007, January 2019.  View Details

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