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the spiritual approach to economics

leads not to models and theories, but to the vital

forces that can truly benefit our world - wisdom,

compassion and restraint

one needn't be a Buddhist or an

economist to practise Buddhist economics. One need only

acknowledge the common thread that runs through life and

seek to live in balance with the way things really are

economics strives for objectivity.

In the process, however, subjective values, such as

ethics, are excluded. With no consideration of

subjective, moral values, an economist may say, for

instance, that a bottle of whiskey and a Chinese dinner

have the same economic value, or that drinking in a

night club contributes more to the economy thanlistening to a religious talk or volunteering for

humanitarian work. These are truths according to

economics.

Thus, modern

economists take no account of the ethical consequences

of economic activity. Neither the vices associated with

the frequenting of night clubs, nor the wisdom arising

from listening to a religious teaching, are its concern

But is it in fact desirable to look on economics as ascience?

Science shows only one side of the truth, that which

concerns the material world.

Environmental degradation is the most obvious and

dangerous consequence to our industrialized, specialized

approach to solving problems

One of the first to integrate the Buddha's teachings

with economics (and indeed to coin the phrase "Buddhist

economics") was E.F. Schumacher in his book "Small is

Beautiful*"

"Small is Beautiful, Economics as if People

Mattered", by E.F. Schumacher

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Western academic disciplines and

conceptual structures have reached a point which many

feel to be a dead end, or if not, at least a turning

point demanding new paradigms of thought and

methodology. This has led many economists to rethink

their isolated, specialized approach. The serious

environmental repercussions of rampant consumerism have

compelled economists to develop more ecological

awareness.

the trouble with modern economic

thinking. Lacking any holistic, comprehensive insight

and limited by the narrowness of their specialized view,

economists single out one isolated portion of the stream

of conditions and fail to consider results beyond that

point. An example: there exists a demand for a

commodity, such as whiskey. The demand is supplied byproduction - growing grain and distilling it into

liquor. The whiskey is then put on the market and then

purchased and consumed. When it is consumed, demand is

satisfied. Modern economic thinking stops here, at the

satisfaction of the demand. There is no investigation of

what happens after the demand is satisfied.

we would have to ask ourselves how liquor production

affects the ecology and how its consumption affects the

individual and society