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This study of women in Bhutan is based on the country’s unique development concept known as Gross National Happiness (GNH). Whereas in most countries, a western approach to development concentrates on increasing Gross Domestic Product to improve a country’s economy, Bhutan follows a different approach based on improving the general well-being of the people. The thesis argues that Bhutan has relegated Gross Domestic Product to the background where it can be used as a means to enhance “happiness” but not as an overall goal of development and that the impacts of this on women require separate study. There are four elements that form the core of the Gross National Happiness concept: good governance, environmental conservation, cultural preservation and socio-economic development. This thesis has focused on only two elements of the GNH concept, questioning the nature of cultural preservation and socio-economic development. This is because cultural preservation is one of the areas that affects women particularly. In the path of development, many socio-economic policies inadvertently discriminate against women although their intentions are gender neutral. Thus, the overall purpose of this thesis is to explore women’s position, especially in the education sector and the impact of tradition and culture on Bhutanese women. The relationship between women in Bhutan and the government policy of preserving culture is analysed in order to determine if there is conflict between preserving culture and sustaining happiness against the backdrop of the fast pace of economic development. The methodological approach for this thesis is both qualitative and quantitative. Because of the limited written material on Bhutan, it was important to talk to members of the public to explore general perceptions, feelings and opinions relating to government policies and the impact of development activities and culture on their lives and also to bring in unofficial perspectives. Participants consisted of twenty households in the village and twenty-two participants from the urban area to address urban/rural differences. Literacy is less in rural areas as is access to information and exposure to western influences. Official documents, newspapers, on-line discussion forums, school curricula and films were also drawn on to explore the role of culture and the impact of development policies on the Bhutanese people. The thesis concludes that cultural preservation, particularly when followed uncritically, remains a major obstacle to women’s empowerment towards achieving their development goals.

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The construction industry is one of the largest industries in the United States and has major influence on the nation's economy. While there is information about industry-wide labor productivity, there has been very little specifically aimed at analyzing the key macroeconomic factors such as labor productivity and gross margin of the construction industry as a whole and at fourteen of its sub-sectors. To address these shortcomings, the objectives of this research are threefold: (1) quantify the macroeconomic performance of the industry as a whole and at fourteen of its sub-sectors in terms of labor productivity, gross margin, and labor wages, (2) investigate the relationship among the three key parameters over the study period from 1992 to 2007, and (3) develop a quantifying model that predicts the level of a firms' profit as a function of such parameters. In addition, the paper seeks to further examine the interdependence between gross margin and labor productivity and wages by looking at the construction industry as a whole. First, data were collected from the 1997, 2002, and 2007 U.S. Economic Census reports generated by the U.S. Census Bureau. This raw data had discrepancies because of some missing values in data fields. This problem was then resolved by performing a bi-variate linear regression. Second, a one-way ANOVA and a general linear regression analysis was performed to investigate whether there was a statistically significant relationship among gross margin, labor productivity, and labor wages per construction worker. Third, a quantifying model was developed to predict the value of gross margin as a function of key parameters. Lastly, the proposed model was then validated with actual values of gross margin observed in three states, California, Florida, and Texas. The results of this research clearly indicate that there was no statistically significant relationship between labor productivity and labor wages per construction worker. In addition, it was seen that there was no significant relationship between labor wages and gross margin per construction worker. However, this study proved that there was a statistically significant relationship between labor productivity and gross margin per construction worker, which suggests the importance of labor productivity. The validation study proved the reliability of the proposed model in predicting the value of gross margin, with little deviation. This study concludes that sub-sectors experiencing higher labor productivity resulted in more profits as represented by the level of gross margin. This finding conveys the important fact that as labor productivity improves, firm's profits also increase significantly. It is noticeable to find that the construction industry as a whole had experienced a steady increase in its labor productivity and gross margin over the study period.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--West Virginia University, 2004. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 146 p. : ill. (some col.). Vita. Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 74-83).

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-98). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1989. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2004. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-98). Also available on the Internet.