The Happiness Level of a Population through the Eyes of Public Management

This book looks at the origin and foundations of the Gross Domestic Happiness indicator, GNH, and how it relates to public management in the city of Lavras, Minas Gerais. GNH is a social and systemic indicator that emerged in the 1970s in a small Asian country in the Himalayas, between India and China, called the Kingdom of Bhutan. Its creator was King Jigme S. W., who believed that strictly economic indicators were too shallow to be used as a criterion for measuring a country’s growth and development. This work analysed the perception of local public representatives regarding the level of happiness and satisfaction of the population. Happiness is something particular and difficult to discuss. It’s something philosophical and psychological. Happiness is often much more related to how an individual views their life and their problems than to external factors. The people of Lavrense are relatively happy people. According to the perception of public managers, the level of happiness in the municipality is satisfactory. The GNH is still a little-known indicator that needs to be publicised because it is far removed from the reality of Brazilian public management.