The Overhyped Economy of Bhutan
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 พ.ย. 2023
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Most countries really want to bring in tourists for the big infusion of money into the local economy. But Bhutan makes it incredibly expensive to visit, and bans all visitors from climbing the parts of the Himalayan mountains that are within their borders. Why? Do they just want to protect their culture from tourists (with the hotels, photo spots and trouble that comes with them)?
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Could it be possible, that you made an online version of EE national leaderboard that would be accessible every time? For example maybe on some website or give a link to it on your youtube videos, because it has grown very much since you have begun making those videos and it is hard to stay in touch how different country are placed.
The national leaderboard is clearly biased and ridiculous. You gave India, which has a gdp per capita almost a third less than Bhutan, a three out of ten for that metric, whilst Bhutan got a 2. That is a very unjustified discrepancy.
I love your video as an student who is intrested and learning economics you explain your concepts well.Could please make a video about nepal as i want to understand the economic state of my country and for any help relating to it i will like to help you myself.
Please do something on Czech republic. Like for instance why it's only country in EU which is in recession, having biggest inflation despite central bank raised interest rates year ahead of EU and USA. Or anything. Thx
You have one outstanding ignorant switch-a-roo. "Building wealth" is being switched to a great infrastructure that predicts a paying customer correctly.
The investors want mailbox money from this great infrastructure. Paul wants rent.
This great infrastructure is homes to own. A capital investment.
These are the two excomponents in the fraction of inflation.
Mixing these very different excomponents into each other. Is moving this fraction.
The numerator is the home, and the denominator is the currency.
Do synonyms confuse you? Changing the names of math equations or its excomponents doesn't change the math.
Please don't play samanics at the same time play math.
This incorrect math formula is called trickle-down economics. Our great-grandfathers had the same argument pains and back then it was called horse and sparrow economics.
The truth is that the Bhutanese youth are no longer satisfied by being the happiest country. They actually now want to make money.
So what? Some of us in Western countries don't care about money, where can we go to escape? There's nowhere for us, even though we're objectively (by the sole metric of 'greediness') morally superior.
@@KamikazeCommie501grass is always greener on other side.
@@KamikazeCommie501stay at your country and stop ruining other countries. You are not welcomed
@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_Sweden better
@@cyrusthegreat7030Swedistan?
I live in Western Australia and I have worked with many Bhutan workers at a laundry linen factory that supplied the hospital linen around our state. The workplace treatment and conditions have deteriorated over the last couple of years and are now very poor so many Aussies have ended up leaving, and more and more new Bhutan workers have kept coming on working and student visas to take their place. They are very hard working, polite, kind, gentle but also a timid and overall more introverted group who you can see are uneducated and so unfortunately are taken advantage of at this factory (I have just only left myself). I became friends with many of them and they become a lot more talkative once you established trust. They come here to work and make a living because all the money is here compared to their country. Still, they all love their king and country (to the point of being kinda weird) and hold very traditional, simplistic views. Oh and their generosity… they are the most generous people, especially with their food that I have ever witnessed. Overall they are a beautiful people but they certainly lack the extroversion and ability to speak up for oneself and create a splash and climbing the hierarchy compared to our Aussie culture. But I understand that because they are here on visas they are more vulnerable, particularly at our workplace
Thanku for ur testimony. Very nice read.
Yes I'm surprised he didn't mention expat workers. I know there are a lot of Nepali workers working in the Gulf, so I wonder if Bhutanese workers do the same.
I'm not from Bhutan but China, but I want to point out that keeping your heads down and work hard is a common Asian trait. I think it's cultural. Unlike western culture who tells each person is a unique and special individual, Asian cultures teach us that we are an insignificant part of society and is easily replaced.
I'm sure the corporations just love exploiting the sh*t out of them.
The people regardless of where they come from have their aspiration for happiness,Butan should not think that Buddhism is the only path toward these happiness?.if allowed to explore further will bring much happiness for themselves and the country ,and better inform of their duties and spiritual meaning in life.
One thing you have missed out. Bhutan’ over 50% government budget is financed by India as a grant and NOT a loan.
What is India getting out of it?
@@patriarch7237 excess electricity thru hydro projects is transmitted to India. In addition, soft power influence. Their currency is also pegged to Indian Rupee as well. Also we dont require expensive Visa to travel there nor need a guided tour.
bhutan is tiny country so indian gov funds it@@patriarch7237
@@patriarch7237 a geopolitical buffer zone against China over its vulnerable "Siliguri Corridor" (Chicken's neck). A right to station troops (training corps) within Bhutanese sovereign territory. Do look up how India went about handling the Doklam Plateau crisis a few years back, when China occupied parts of Bhutan's Doklam valley in an attempt to gain a tactically advantageous positon over the Siliguri Corridor, and you'll know exactly how crucial it is for India to maintain amicable ties with Bhutan.
@@praneeshpal8677 Thank you.
Point to be noted. Indians don't need to pay the exhorbitant amount of government fees to stay in Bhutan. Typically is much lower like around $15. Also India and Bhutan are really good friends with great diplomatic/cultural ties. Bhutan is breaktakingly beautiful with it's peaceful & serene landscape
Yeah India helped cover up their genocide of the nepalese ethnic minority so they better be besties.
15$ just to breathe the air is comparatively expensive
@@kanidai9985 Do not visit Bhutan if you are after material pleasures. However if you want a spiritual journey that fills the soul, its the right place.
@@kanidai9985keeps out most of the low income indisciplined tourists out. Some time back reports of some Indian bikers climbing on top of holy stupa in Bhutan for a selfies. Extremely disrespectful to the local culture.
Bhutan keeping out peacefuls. Atleast it won't become Bhatanistan
I was obsessed with Bhutan as a kid in the mid-80s because of their weird and unique postage stamps. They had to be purely for decoration or for sale because they had to be expensive to produce. Lots of embossing & 3D lenticular.
I have been to Bhutan. It is a beautiful country and the people are lovely. It is a mountainous country but at the time I went (a few years ago) the roads were bad. I understand that they couldn’t build their own highways so India helped them. Sadly it seemed to me that that was a very slow and not very good job (nothing against India, I don’t know anything about the background). There was only one major road and no flights or railway linking the eastern part with the western part of the country. I came back feeling a little underwhelmed - the Bhutanese are a peaceful contented people, but the western hype about happiness is, to be honest, just another kind of manipulation. There is simply no such thing as paradise on earth, in my view.
Its very hard, labourous and costly affair to build road in bhutan for India. And more over china is already claiming some part of bhutan as theirs like they did to tibet, and India china relationship is lets say not on friendly terms so the contracts and infra works go on and off all the time...
Never been to Bhutan, but I did visit Nepal and Tibet years ago and felt a similar way about them. Notions of peaceful, blissful Himalayan lands where you will leave with greater insight and wisdom are highly romanticized. In Nepal, there was a lot of poverty and poor hygienic conditions. And whatever Tibet used to be, a century of Chinese control has changed it. I will also say that life in both countries is strikingly modern; I remember seeing Buddhist monks in Nepal using iPads and talking on mobile phones just as if they were Western businessmen.
You can't call it "Western hype" about happiness when butan itself is marketing itself as being all about happiness.
“Peaceful, contented people”. That’s already a huge win in my books, and a state of mind we in developed countries seem to have lost entirely.
It comes with a price tag of $200 per day... I mean not for them.. @@ubitubee
The fact that Bhutan has small economy and still offers free education and free healthcare to all citizens is something to be proud of.
Free indoctrination and mid 1900s care. Fixed that for you.
@@Andy-hp4tf lol India lends money as a loan. Nothing is free in this 21st Century
@@Andy-hp4tfNot true.
“””Free education””” Nothing is free.
*All the americans enter the chat* "rabble rabble rabble"
Bhutan is weird in a lot of ways. He mentioned that they only officially became a democracy in 2008 with the king still keeping a lot of powers, that was because the king wanted the country to be a democracy. The people want him to stay in power. Not many other countries have a leader who wants to get rid of their own power and a people who want that leader to keep it.
Not that weird, for the longest time monarchy was respected all over the world and people still respect the old kings and empires in all cultures. Its also partially because royalty des[ite similarities are not politicians, they actually care about people as its their purpose for even existing rather than because of a power or monetary desire.
@@rickycool6083 That's true. Thailand used to be a good example. Prime Ministers and political parties were unpopular with one half of the country or the other, but generally people felt pride in the Thai monarchy. I think that's changed recently with the crackdown on enforcing lèse-majesté laws.
@@liversuccess1420 I don't know if Thailand is a very good example, every 20-30 years ago. It's pretty glossy but if you ask questions you end up in jail or at the bottom of the Mekong.
Monarchy has many advantages over democracy, which people like the Americans could never understand.
@@reanukeeves2k77 Not just the Americans, While it could be argued that monarchy has certain advantages over democracy, those advantages can also be ascribed to dictatorship.
I mean, when you started a video with : "Bhutan geographical position mean its economy will never take up", it kind of make sense to focus on maintaining quality of life as much as possible.
Well even Switzerland is landlocked and mountainous but they've found other ways to make money. Bhutan could do so much more: arts and crafts, luxury items, financial hubs and so on. Bhutan really lacks in healthcare and road/rail infrastructure, something they need to build by themselves even if India doesn't provide its annual grant.
Except they're literally not maintaining quality of life?
What he did not mention is Bhutan might be closed off to the rest of the world, but it is VERY open to India in all sectors. Indians are not required to pay to $200 a day tourism fee, so Bhutan gets thousands of Indian tourists each year. Also India manages a lot of internal ministries for Bhutan which include defence and foreign affairs. It is a sovereign country on paper, it is highly dependent on India for survival. China would have gobbled up Bhutan long ago had it not been for India, as was evident from the Doklam clashes.
Pretty cool, they aren't too disimilar to the UK and Ireland. The UK manages a lot of their shipping and pretty much all defense and then they both get visa free access both ways.
It's not China that wants to gobble up Bhutan, it's India that wants to turn Bhutan into another Sikkim
When in comes to tourism in Bhutan, Indians, Maldivians and Bangladeshis are exempt from many of the rules.
Me as an Indian can enter Bhutan with no visa, travel on our own and explore with no mandatory tour guide, stay in cheaper airbnb or homestays. However, they do charge a daily charge, much cheaper compared to the standard charge for everyone else. Something like 15USD per day.
That too, they started charging the fees, when too many Indian tourists started visiting. Before that, it was completely free.
All correct, except the reduced rates is only for our Indian brothers and sisters
@@SUPERPOWERCHINA_this is either A+ tier shitpost or F tier bot comment. The thing that worries me is I can't tell which it is
@@mastermohitits a bot obviously😂
@@mastermohitthat guy's description: "COMMUNIST CHINA IS SAFE COUNTRY FOR ANIMALS. TRUST ME SIR 🤗🇨🇳🤗🇨🇳". Just give this man a medal
@@mastermohitit’s a bot more like ‘China uncensored’ if you see it’s videos
As an Icelandic person, I wish that we would take up a lot of these ideas/regulations from Bhutan.
The mass tourism here is killing what Iceland is and also why people what to come visit.
It’s quickly pushing out and making it unaffordable for the actual citizens to be able to live here.
Plus we have one of the highest consumption of anti depressants in the world, so make of that what you will concerning how happy people in general are here 🤦🏼♂️
Are you okay with the lifestyle of Bhutanese people?
@@admiralrohan It appears to be a lot more fulfilling than the one here in Iceland tbh.
@@ThizOne poor struggle during calamities like covid.
Yes, but the economy
@@ubitubee If you do some research on Iceland, then you will see how much of a oligarchy, not a democracy Iceland really is.
My dream for Bhutan will be to develop without compromising on their values. We need a country like Bhutan in this world.
So essentially, Bhutan is the equivalent on a country level of the guy who wants to live off-grid, yet achieved this off-grid status by first relentlessly mining "the grid" for so much wealth that they can ignore it later in their lives.
Bhutan is a unique country. I don't think I'd ever be able to visit it but I actually like that they want to preserve their country's natural landscapes and culture. They're not materialistic and want to live a simple life. Although I don't know how they measure happiness but not chasing after money or selling your soul in pursuit of it or living anywhere away from polluted cities could make someone like me content.
The strong root of Buddhism deep in their culture may explain some of it.
It's BS. The places like that (rightfully) don't allow much immigration so non-greedy people have to stay in their garbage capitalist countries where literally everyone looks down on them simply for not wanting more than they need. Meanwhile the western world imports immigrants specifically BECAUSE they're greedy.
tourism is actually a trap that keeps countries poor because they usually have to import the energy and food that feeds these tourists, this puts downward pressure on the currency which makes all imports more expensive. This imported inflation forces the government to print heavily to subsidize prices
Very unique country with even less press freedom than NK, enthinic cleaning and many more atrocious things.
There is a different between living a simple life and living in poverty. Most people in these country live their whole life as the latter and then got their suffering romanticize as a form of propaganda. Believe me, I lived my whole life in country that work exactly like this. They barely get anything out of their agriculture labor, the rich corporate squish the price down to nothing. Sure they have what they grown, but believe me, even the most simple mind of them do not consider living half in the mud and having no access to basic medicine, electricity or clean water and only having cabbage to eat "happiness".
Sometime it's really mind-boggling to me that how so many people didn't realize that phase like "not materialistic" "Buddhism lifestyle" "living a simple life" is always, ALWAYS come out of the mouth of the rich, the elite, the royal, not the people who actually living those life. I mean. Come on. Why do you think there are so many peasant revolts in our recorded history???
I don't want to romanticize rural poverty, but it does seem like being poor in a beautiful environment with clean water and air and a stable, tight knit community is not quite the same thing as being poor in an ugly, polluted slum with high social fragmentation and crime. Both are still poor, but if you're going to be poor anyway...
On the flip side, rural poverty is crushingly, soul-destroyingly dull. There are no new people to meet, nothing new to see or experience, everyone you know has the exact same life experience that you do. There will never be an opportunity to leave, try something different, escape. Just boring, backbreaking hard work every day until you are too old to carry on, when hopefully your children will take care of you. Its the reason that people have been leaving the countryside and heading to cities since before recorded history. The only time it works in reverse is when city people have accumulated enough wealth that they can retire to enjoy the tranquillity of the countryside without having to work themselves to death in the fields. Poor people don't choose to move to rural areas, anywhere in the world.
@@patriarch7237again, I don’t want to romanticize rural poverty, and I’m sure some people have felt like moving from that to urban poverty was a relative improvement. But I think it’s pretty simplistic to assume that the historical movement from rural to urban has always been because people *wanted to* when there has often been so much economic pressure from societal change. Think about, like, Britain closing off the commons so peasants straight up just lost their rural livelihoods, moving to London where they died of cholera faster than they could reproduce because that’s where they could find jobs, and I don’t know how many of those people felt like they were escaping.
@@patriarch7237 Eh i mean the Bhutanese youth have access to phones. And they do have options, they can easily travel to India. There are some Bhutanese students in my college. It is not really the isolated world people are thinking it to be.
@@chris7263 Well, they could have returned to farming, but it kinda sucked so a possible cholera infection apparently was better.
Water is not potable in Bhutan.
I have spent time in Bhutan. The prices of lodging quoted in the video are over ten times more than what I paid. While the daily $200 surcharge is steep, once there, food and lodging were inexpensive.
So happy to hear that a fellow spurs mate have been there ❤
I think the rate right now is 100$?
we're talking about resorts
Lol never imagined seeing my country on this channel. Agree with all of the points. Nepotism is one of the biggest issue plaguing the country. As a result most youths and even government staff have become disillusioned with the country. Hence these days there is a mass exodus of people leaving the country for Australia. We are also paying the price for prioritizing GNH over GDP . Not to mention the country offers nothing special for the ridiculous tourist fee. Furthermore most Bhutanese are too scared to take a risk and only know how to copy others. Because of this there is very few individuals with unique business ideas. The government just cares only about taxing the business and filling up their pockets nothing more .
Someone spoke up at least !🎉
First I doubt if you are a Bhutanese 😂
Second, you would never be happy anywhere in the world, just punch my word
@@Steverog3You can never be happy anywhere in the world, but you can never be totally miserable in industrially developed countries with strong state welfare system.
@@thastayapongsak4422 i live in one of the most richest and developed country you would have ever lived. Life here is miserable everyday
@@thastayapongsak4422 You couldn't be more wrong sadly🙂
I guess it's normal to measure poverty in dollars, but I'm much more interested in the real effects of poverty, especially in how it reflects in health and education. For example, a poor country can have good health outcomes for not much money if it concentrates on primary health care.
Non-monetary indicators for poverty include infant mortality, life expectancy, and suicide rate.
Exactly
Suicide rate i don't think correlates much with poverty. The other ok.
According to omniscient Google, Bhutan has an infant mortality rate of 19.76 per 1000 births while in America it is 5.6, just used a wealthy country for comparison. Life expectancy isn't that high, around 70 years. So, I guess, you can be happy there if you don't care about sophistication, top of the line healthcare nor education.
Google "UN Report on Multidimensional Poverty Index 2022"
Therein you will find poverty and extreme poverty measured as a function of deprivations that includes deprivations in housing, access to clean water, nutrition and education, the type of cooking fuel used, etc. Much better than some random line drawn on the basis of PPP Dollars. D
You are looking for multidimensional poverty index
I like Butane. It's my favorite after Propane and Ethane.
You shud try Cocane .
You both are insane.
@@jkardez4794no I think Benzene.
@@jkardez4794😂😂😂
@@rudragaming6977but benzane is carcinogane😂
Small Correction. 700 Million USD is the highest Nepal has ever earned through Tourism in a single year , It hasnt reached a Billion USD yet according to available data on the internet. Please Do a video about Nepal soon
are you nepali
it's 2.2 bill usd according to worldbank website check it again
ur data is from 2020 which is like 690 mil usd
Yes… Bhutan can be very expensive for travelers but not necessarily so. I made a trip there in 2018 from Saigon where I live. There are direct flights a few times a year with excursions including everything for four full days and four nights including four and five star hotels for about 2,300 USD (was about 1,600 USD in 2018). Not a solution for budget minded backpackers but nothing crazy expensive either considering the cost included/includes airfare, hotel, all meals and all tours including also the daily visa fee. And the country was absolutely fascinating and beautiful of scenery, architecture and national traditional dress with the level of spoken English being better than what one might expect. The solution to get a visa and reasonable cost is to find and work with a specialized tour company that can handle all from one of the cities that one of the Bhutan airlines fly from.
It’s changed. You now pay the very expensive tourist/climate fee but are now separately responsible for all your own expenses such as hotel and meals.
@@thaismorimoto3238 Bummer. That explains the price differential between 2018 and now! I really did enjoy the visit.
This basically mirrors my response when I saw articles and stuff about Bhutan, they have a good thing going, but they can only maintain what they have by relying on other countries.
It's not a model that scales up well, or that can standd on it's own, like Singapore in a way.
Exactly, one major weakness of this model is your depend entirely on the goodwill of your neighbours. Now admittedly when your neighbours are China and India that is pretty much a given :P
Still there is something to be said of the porcupine thinking, or in this case its reverse, and if your country is so backwards that absorbing it doesn't even lead to a burp then why not. It is what every conqueror since antiquity has done...
@@maximipe its extremely easy to get food to Singapore, even if you are still not getting the point he made lol.
@@maximipe I said Singapore was similar to Bhutan in that it can't stand on it's own, so yeah.
@darthmortus5702
With Bhutan, it could even be that absorbing it would be such a huge long term burden that it is better to let it be
The people are poor, how is that 'a good thing going'? Have you forgotten that poverty means toiling in fields all day doing back breaking work? Probably with all your children? Low levels of education? High infant mortality? Malnutrition? Lack of medical care?
Bhutan can say that they don't care about the economy because most of its national budget is sponsored by India directly
More than 50% of total foreign aid that India provides to other nations is towards bhutan. And its in someway a 30th state of india with more sovereignty
It definitely is not an Indian state
@@sukizuki9497 That's true. What he means to say is that India treats Bhutan like it's own not as a foreign country. Indian doesn't have to help them but they are doing it like they are our own people. And this money is not a loan but free money without expecting anything back.
@@aasamspb967 I get ya on that first part but there is no such thing as free money. Those money go right back into the pockets of the lenders in the form hydroelectricity purchases at a rate much lower than the global average set price.
Bhutan is am amazing place. You can get mesmerized by its sheer beauty and landscapes. We Indians love Bhutan.
Yes Saar we LoVe BhooTaN SaaR! Uugh! You can't even browse without at least finding one Indian declaring one sided undying love for another country even if said love is totally unnecessary.
@@stormshadow5283lmao deal with it🤣
@@stormshadow5283 loving thy neighbor is one of the core value for cristianity, and many indians follow this core tennent, we hate those who hate us
@@stormshadow5283💯 i friggin find them annoying saale chaatu log
@@GloryToAryaVratit's aryavarat not aryavrat fix dis 🥹
Thank you very much for your educational content! Didn‘t find anything like your channel yet
"Money and Macro" and "How Money Works" are good sources as well
I find this contrast a lot with Asia. Tourists want to experience people living a bucolic, traditional life, whereas locals want to live with western comforts and opportunity. That's not really compatible. At best you end up with Potemkin villages designed for instagram accounts and real life is happening elsewhere. Bhutan is becoming one big Potemkin village.
Watching from Trinidad and Tobago 🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹🇹
Can't wait to see a video on us.
I went to Bhutan in 2014 and that 200 USD a day charge includes everything such as your hotels, meals, your driver and guide making it is very good value for money.
They have changed post pandemic so the tourist tax no longer includes hotels etc. It was set at $200 last year but was recently reduced to $100/day. Still, compared to accommodation prices in a variety of places I am sure the price would still not be crazy expensive unless you had a big family.
Bhutan and india have built a few hydropower projects in the past few years where india builds the projects and pays a royalty and ten percent free power to bhutan till the project costs are recovered and then the project gets transferred to bhutan. Bhutan would do well to focus on its hydropower potential.
Out of curiosity, I looked up Bhutans fertility rate and it stands at 1.4 - which is pretty low and represents a massive drop from the 1970s (when it was around 6.6). I do find this a bit weird, given you'd think most of the factors that drive falling fertility else where would be less pronounced in a more traditionalist, slow-growth economy. One thing here is that it looks like Bhutan is going to completely forfeit the demographic dividend (i.e. the boost in the working-age population driving growth that many developing countries experience).
It should really be studied. A preindustrial rural agrarian life should lead to high fertility.
@@adurpandya2742use of chemical fertilizer and pesticides contains carcinogenic chemicals such as glyphosate will have negative impact on population on various aspects including fertility
Or it’s due to young people leaving for economic opportunities in neighboring countries because they don’t want to live in poverty like their parents did.
@@RubmaLioneis it?
@@ubitubee yes. Take it from a Bhutanese youth lol most young and productive youths are trying their best to go abroad for better opportunities.
when people say a nation is poor based on the dollar it really does not paint clear picture. in dollar amount they might be poor but not poor in the same way as a citizen that uses the dollar domestically. for example 100k in NYC is only 35k after taxes and cost of living adjustment. and then vs some of these "poor" nations where they might just earn a couple thousand USD a year, they own their land, their house, have no debt and cost of living is a tiny fraction of a city in the MidWest USA. sure they might not be able to buy an imported BMW but they are also not living in a car or tent.
Bhutan can be like this coz they always have their big bro nation India looking after them, doing development projects, defending their borders so that they don't need to maintain any army and lot other things. So they are just chill and it's such a small country that India will never mind paying for them and since they are so culturally bonded that Indian love them a lot hence and can be like this forever.
I am Indian Assamese too and seriously they don't have much favourable view about us. We should be more neutral about our citizens stance on international relations, let government do their job minding our national interest. We don't have be "we love this and that country".
@@joyid Yeah, I've been to Bhutan and they really don't have a good opinion of India. The only reason India spends so much money on Bhutan is so that they don't start allying with China like what Nepal did.
Pretty smart on Bhutan's part honestly
India is helping Bhutan only because they want strategic advantage for the chicken corridor
If you can't compete in the GDP score, change the whole system so you come out on top. Something to learn there
Do a video on Nepal
As long as they don’t have a natural resource China or India ends up wanting they should be fine. I grew up in rural poverty and now I live in nyc making a lot more money but still basically poor and less happy. I was happier when my window to the outside world was limited to library books, but yeah if someone had asked me at the time I’d probably had said I wasn’t that happy, because I had no idea how deep sadness and despair could actually go. Human physiology doesn’t want you to experience lasting joy so it’s hard to quantify happiness and wellbeing subjectively.
india is not going to annex Bhutan, india already has its army inside Bhutan to protect it from Chinese aggressions. China is the only real threat to them but they are safe since any agression on Bhutan is an agression towards india.
I'm sorry that you were lured to a western country under false pretenses. We aren't happy in our society and you're only being lured here to take on debt so bankers can conjure money out of nothing from the interest you pay.
lol india provide border security to bhutan china claims parts of bhutan search 2017 China-India border standoff
One of the best comments I’ve seen on YT
One of the best comment indeed... Thanks..
Speaking as an Icelander, who worked in the tourist industry, the Butanese got the right idea.
Bhutan is a good holiday destination for Indians for whom such tarrifs do not apply. Great for us.
Yeah, Bhutan ticks the boxes for a fantasy kingdom and that's why it's a playground for wealthy folks. But I'm pretty sure the average citizen may have a few other ideas. Decent schools, decent hospitals don't come cheap and the nation's treatment of its Nepalese population a few years ago is not exactly squeaky clean. It's a one-family, one-nation kind of place, like Saudi Arabia. I would argue that the King needs to do a heck of a lot more for his people rather than keep them living in huts.
If they are happy in the huts why change it?
Plus the Nepalese stuff was far more complex than that, the Gurkha stuff was really whipping up a storm to the point civil war looked on the cards. They had to go.
Education and healthcare services are "free" albeit lacking compared to the advancement of the west. As for the mass deportation of the Nepalese people, we're sad that you were treated in an undignified manner but the charges were association with foreign criminals and rebellion. Ofcourse,not all of them but everyone got hurt by association.
Ps:we don't live in huts
Big announcement from Bhutan coming soon 😉 The gears are going to be set into motion and the next few years will be a pivotal moment in our history. Hopefully all goes according to plan 🤞🙏
*Bhutan* 🇧🇹 is placed much much higher in happiness index than their neighbours- India 🇮🇳 & China 🇨🇳 . Sandwiched between two economic and Nuclear powers and yet happy is something only Bhutanese can do .
Look up how that survey was conducted. It is nonsense.
That's a facad.
Happiness is not quantifiable.
These Happiness index is just subjective opinion.
@@Charvak-Atheist Are you indian by any chance ?
dude have u got surveyed for this happiness imdex thing coz in india its the leftist dumps that getr to survey if u ask the right maniacs they are the happiest right now i think turh is in bw@@danax6653
You really think that a country can't be happy and rich at the same time
Corruption PERCEPTION is very different than actual corruption.
True
Bro excited for ur journey
Props for shouting out wendover! Would love to see you guys join nebula 😊
Noticed you guys have improved your usage of text animation on screen (forgot what it's called).
It's way better than when it was first tried (and overused in a bad way)
Bhutan should start developing its contact center/call center industry. They speak good neutral English which is less thickly accented as their Indian counterparts.
I would be interested in seeing a video that goes into the economic impact of recycling, reusing (used items) and a circular product life model that incorporates the ability to recycle key components/materials. I think many will see this good for the planet given our limited resources, but how does this affect the economy from a micro and macro level.
Reduce is being neglected, recycling and reusing is good though.
Can you make Video on Economy of Nepal. Im really looking forward
I was lucky enough to book a 5 day trip to Bhutan from Nepal back in 2012. Expensive yes, but one of the most naturally beautiful countries I have ever seen.
For a Nepali you sure are a rich guy
@@hewas_chewaskyonly you could think all nepalis are poor. However if you used logic you’d realise this guy is a foreigner visiting bhutan and nepal. And no hate but all beggars in nepal are from India. You’re free to go and check in kathmandu
I'm from Costa Rica and I'm so sick and tired of beggars that I wonder, if they're from abroad, why don't you just deport them?
@@TR4RIndia and Nepal share a open border. So, they will keep coming back.
@@supermanvanced
A good chunk of young Nepali men work and earn their bread in the industrial regions around Delhi as well as Western and Southern India. It goes both ways, ungrateful Nepalis are not welcomed in India.
I still want to visit there
U girl?
@@DontReadMyProfilePicture.57 ok
Man, I would give anything to visit the country for a holiday! Sadly, I am too poor. I sure hope that the Bhutanese government spends the money they get through tourism on the people!
Yep, the money they generate from tourism directly goes to the countries economy.
You can visit Indian states of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It's kind of similar, Himalayan region, Buddhism, low population etc
8:32 WAW! Nepal mountains are so awesome! .... Just that ... those are Caucasus Mountains with Ushba Peak in the background! 😄
I think those are Indian mountains Nanda devi in the Himalayas.
@@pritsingh9766 Not true! This is the view from south face of Elbrus.You can clearly see from those slopes some 5000m peaks like Kazbek, Koshtan-Tau, Dykh-Tau, Skhara(the highest point of Georgia), Jangi-Tau and Elbrus (the highest summit of Russia). The twin peaks awesome looking mountain actually is Ushba 4690m.
Why are there Buddhist flags in Georgia?
That's Annapurna South.... everyone can recognize it ..
Bro I live near Bhutan border only four hours away from my house and let me tell you they only tax the foreigners we Indians are not . Its mainly because our gorvement helps them a lot.
Buthan: we want to preserve our ancient culture and ways
ALSO Buthan: Bitcoin is an ancient ancestral industry of this agrarian society
😂🤷♂️🙄🤷♂️
More like: a way to earn currency which makes literally no difference to anyone here - we don't have to look at it, talk about it, or clean up after it. We don't even have to think about it, and it doesn't impinge on our culture in any way whatsoever. And if it goes pear-shaped, we have very little to lose - at worst, we just end up where we started.
@@patriarch7237 so earnings is the priority? And culture comes 2nd?
@@ricardokowalski1579 No. I'm saying if there is a way of earning money which has no impact on your culture whatsoever, then there's no reason not to do it. Bitcoin is a way of doing that, as once you install the resources to mine it, you can leave it running with little interaction.
If your culture is "being poor" (e.g. Franciscan monk) then it would impact your culture, so maybe don't do it. But most people don't really regard "being poor" as a noble calling. If they do, it is a quality to be admired in other people, not something an individual seeks for themselves.
@@patriarch7237 "no impact" means government gets the money and the citizens stay miserable
Great doubl- digit IQ thinking there pal! As evidenced by your use of Emojis on an economics video.
I know this kind of nitpick is annoying to read, but I believe in the audio you said they make less than $100 million on tourism while the text said they *lose* $100 million. It might be worth updating the description of the video or pinning a comment acknowledging the typo (assuming that's what it was) since I know TH-cam doesn't let you edit the video after uploading.
Interesting. I would like to visit Bhutan myself.
not chasing money seems noble on the surface until you remember the primary reason people want money is to improve there standard of living it can certainly go to far but a simple life isent necessarily a good life and the better goal would be to strike a balance
We don’t have a mortgage, husband is now retired and wants to travel. We don’t splurge or anything like that. Inflation has hit hard and we want to relocate to Bhutan while growing his 401k which is minus 2 M atm. I'm cautious than ever with rising costs. What is your opinion? Happy to discuss.
Travel is a small but important part of that overall puzzle. Start with an annual budget for socializing and travel. $10k per year is a figure I picked out of the sky and see how you get on with that over time. Agree to remain open to further conversations about adjusting that figure upwards or downwards.
Roughly how much you have in the 401k combined with a financial advisor’s help can help you not only grow but budget the money for your travel destinations. I and my spouse always delegate our excesses.
If I can chip in know what you are expecting from the 401k. An adviser might be able to help you visualize what role the 401k plays in your overall plan. If your husband isn’t require to take minimum distributions yet, how long will it be until he reaches that required beginning age? These are what an adviser may want to determine in order to help you plan better and what investment strategy best suits you.
It is always good to have a balanced fin-plan. I work with a professional planner and fixed-income strategist. the fixed income portion of your portfolio won’t simply serve as a buffer to the volatility of the equity portion of your portfolio, but will provide legitimate income.
I have seen a lot about FAs and actually want to consult some pro. How did you go about it? Is yours any good?
that was great, thanks
Thanks!
6:25
Props for acknowledging (and avoiding) the 'Full Wendover' on airline economics. 😂
"We don't want to go full Wendover here"😂. We need that collaboration!
👋 there! The geographical map of India is incomplete missing the J&K part. Would you not mind rectifying upcoming videos. Thanks.
So it's basically a country sized monastery?
Pretty much. Very charming as long as you don't look too closely
Bhutan has a dragon in the flag.
Pretty cool.
I think if Bhutan had a decent economy, I wouldn't be surrounded by Bhutanese immigrants working minimum wage jobs.
The 200$ fee has been revised and reduced to 100$ per night.
E.E, please do an economic explained video of the middle income trapped Malaysia 🇲🇾 🙆🏻♀️
You said "poverty" but you failed to talk about and actual metrics apart from money. 1$ in Bhutan gets your a lot more than it would in the USA. Talk about life expectancy, healthcare, education rates etc if you want to give people a more holistic idea of what's going on. I've visited Bhutan and you don't see the kind of poverty you see in parts of India and Africa, what you do see if kind people living a simpler life than what you are used to
Life expectancy-wise, Bhutan is on par with Jamaica.
As a Bhutanese I don’t think your comparison matters a lot. We are doing the best and we are happy with that.
Everything about this country seems well managed and smart.
I hope they can keep their independence.
Not pursuing economic abundance might be their strategy for keeping that independence.
India provides security to Bhutan. Bhutan has no form of military weapons, the indian army is deployed there for its protection
Not at all smart
It's also a perfect sistem to keep peasants subservient to high nobility.
@@bearcubdaycareSo North Korea was right all along?
Dont think you mentioned that Indian nationals only pay like $16 a day instead of $200 and something like 90% of tourists are from India. So in reality the $200 fee isn't restricting overall tourism so I dont know what the point is.
Do you want Christain and Islamic missionaries to run rampant in Bhutan ? To Bhutanese people don’t get influenced by these videos. Your country is doing amazing ( slow and steady progress ). And to those cheapskate foreigners either pay 200$ or go some place you can afford ( & bargain for 2$ rooms ).
Please make video about Moldova!
I made some Bhutanese friends in college. All were nice and friendly
Why not look at their healthcare and education system?
you should do one of Nepal as well.
Well, Nepal's economy is very much integrated with India with open borders and visa free travels. Bhutan-India is a bit more restricted in this respect.
It'll be interesting to actually see the video though.
@@bonchitogovindodas3333Nepalese like Chinese more than you.
@@koushikdas1992 still that doesn't refute the fact that Nepal and India's economies are integrated too much to separate them out.
@@bonchitogovindodas3333you forgot cultural ties also
@@animadas2306 cultural ties doesn't necessitate economic ties anywhere in the world. Infact two neighbouring countries with cultural tie generally results in enmity (Indo-Pak, Koreas, Balkans, irani-pak, Russ-ukraine, etc.)
just a small feedback can you slow up your pace, it is very hard for an non native English speaker to catch up to your pace of speaking otherwise the content is far more than excellent kudos for that, an d Avery happy new year.🥳
The land of thunder Dragon Druk verry amezing country nice people nice culture Bhutan is awesome land love from Nepal 🇳🇵❤🇧🇹
"Less corrupt than the US" really isn't saying much...
Easy to avoid corruption when they don't do anything in the first place.
I worked in Bhutan with some of their richest highest profile residents. How corrupt? You judge, the royal family takes a reputed 30% of GDP, and owns in part or all corporate entities including both airlines. Access to the interior is strictly controlled so visitors cant see the crushing poverty of the majority. When traveling from Paro to climb to tigers nest we passed three generations of a family breaking stones under a huge overhanging rock, on our return home the rock was on the road closing trafic and all the workers were not to be seen. I dont know what happened and there was no reported incident! I came away thinking gross domestic tolorence of misery was more like it. Our driver unknowingly took us into a restricted region and was threatened with severe punishments upon our return after we had all been detained. Gross domestic BS was my impression.
What?
Bro I need more tea on this one. I always thought it was one grand facade but hearing details is whole another matter
As a bhutanese i can confirm that all are true the main problem in my country is employment, as thereis less industries there is not much employment oppurtunutues for the youth so thats why recently many youth are going oversees to work which has kinda reduced the people in oyr country which is affectibg many local business ventures but i am happy that my fellow country mates are working hard to have a stable future
If you look bhutan from a political point of view, this system exists because monarch wants to be in power and they dont want any foreign influence or even democratic views to reach average bhutanese.They are highly dependent on aid and infrastructure from india. And india supports the monarchs because india dont want bhutan to come under china's field of influence. ONly thing thats good that bhutanese monarchs are preserving their environment.
Bhutan only really exists and is able to afford to ignore economic development due to the presence of India. India provides it with security guarantees against Chinese expansionism, and also very heavily subsidises it (again as a bulwark against Chinese influence) which is why they're able to provide free education and healthcare despite being so poor. It's only due to this massive support that it hasn't collapsed or gone the way of Tibet.
Gotta help buffer states.
@@userre85
See China helping North Korea and Russia helping Belarus.
If you don't find a means of multiplying your money, you will wake up one day and realize that the money you thought you had, had been exhausted. Investment is a ladder to climb the financial wall.
8:33 Everest is in Nepal, not Bhutan, right?
Make a video on Nepal it would be interesting to see that
"The first country to adopt happiness as an official goal of public policy is the tiny little country of Bhutan in Asia near China and India."
--Derek Bok
Only good neighbour of south Asia
The first country to measure progress in terms of intangible inmeasurable that is easily manipulated by the ruling class.
Say what you want but Bhutan values her citizens and offers free health care and free education. Bhutan values her citizens life.
Yet its average life expectancy is on par with Jamaica's.
I read once that the hotel is included in the tax tourist must pay daily for Butan's government.
Yes I paid $200 per day and it covered Hotel, meals, transportation, driver and a guide. It was worthwhile considering the hotel was three star.
A video on Britains economy would be interesting or just london
Thing is any video about Britain’s economy will be out of date before the video is even uploaded
austerity screwed the UK
I'd think that aluminum smelting might be an industrial option, given the country's abundant hydro and the bauxite production of some nearby countries, if the country decided to pursue industry.
They're probably just happy to take advantage of hydro and wind projects. Maybe take out more loans to build out HVDC infrastructure since mountains aren't great places to build rail or roads
Not sure what state a hydro-electric plant is in when it's 'under constraction', but I'm sure it's good for the economy.
Wow ...just wow 😮
6:26 Never go full Wendover.
XD
Well the real fact is, Bhutan's government has much much less to care about when compared to the governments of other countries.
India has provided military, health services and all kinds of other services to bhutan for little to no money. Also most infrastructure projects, mainly dams are constructed free of costs or at very cheap loans by India.
Also if you visit the country, you won't be able to call it a poor or undeveloped country.
Is India trying to influence Bhutan from turning to a Chinese pawn?
@@Andy-hp4tf are you Chinese?
@@Andy-hp4tf From which country are you?
( I don't want to use this information to target you with any words but to give you a relevant answer)
Stop mentioning India everywhere.
@@rixproduction4559 he's from Norway
Indian citizens don't have to pay the daily fee, and can cross by land. They are really unable to ramp up tourism volume by air as the airport in Paro has precarious approaches and is unable to achieve a high volume of air traffic. Given the limits of infrastructure, it makes sense for them to chase lower volumes and higher value visitors. We visited in 2017, and our daily fee was included in our tour's total cost. Nearly all food was included and we really didn't have to pay any more out of pocket than what the tour package cost. I found the only extra costs were for souvenirs and Red Panda beer. If you can swing a visit, I highly recommend a visit.
Q : "How to make your power safe?"
Wangchuck : "Keep the people poor and stupid."
Kim Jong Un : "My man."
I honestly really like their system of only going for economic deals that are too good to turn down. Sure, they'll develop slowly, but they'll develop eventually and not have to sacrifice their environment, culture, and resources to do it. Many already rich countries could really learn a thing or two from this strategy, because since it certainly has some drawbacks for a country not yet developed, for a developed country I really don't see the downsides. No need to sacrifice a lot for some minimal monetary returns when you already have enough. I suppose Bhutan is already kind of going with that, just that their definition of "enough" is a lot less than most peoples'.
If you want to know whether their approach works, you could try asking the locals. They're fleeing the country in large numbers in the hope of something more than subsistence farming