Ever hear of it? No? I’m not surprised, I hadn’t either.
Now, it appears that the new “powers that be” in Thailand are intent on adopting this so-called “Sufficiency Economics”. And, they had to immediately put foreigners at ease with no, it’s not Self-sufficiency Economics, not North Korean Juche style ideology/religion/economics. It’s just Sufficiency Economics or Buddhist Economics.
Basically, Buddhism teaches us that life is suffering and we can’t be too attached to material stuff, which is fleeting. Only by detaching ourselves for the material world can we reach true happiness. I’m not sure that would be such a good basis for an economic model.
Applying the two cows theory to Buddhist economics: You have two cows and you hope that they’re happy.
So, I’m thinking that Sufficiency Economics really means middle path - all things in moderation. And, maybe it’s meant to be applied more at the individual level than macro economic policy. That’s not such a bad thing, is it?
But, they’re talking about Bhutan being a model. Bhutan? Really??? So, forget about GDP, we’re talking about GHI (Gross Happiness Index). Heh! Gross happiness.