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László Zsolnai

Planet Positive Economy

    Laszlo Zsolnai was keynote speaker at the 31st Annual Conference of the International Sustainable Development Research Society in July 8-12, 2025 at the Corvinus University of Budapest. His lecture was about the Planet Positive Economy. In his lecture Laszlo Zsolnai introduced the concept of Planet Positive Economy and presented two theorems about it. The Impossibility Theorem says that planet positive economy cannot be achieved if economic agents follow materialistic value orientation which prioritize money, possession,… Read More »Planet Positive Economy

    Fostering Consciousness in Business Education

      On May 27, 2025 Laszlo Zsolnai served as invited speaker in the Global Alliance for Conscious Business Education Conference. His talk was entitled as “Fostering Consciousness in Business Education”. In his talk, Laszlo Zsolnai stressed that the strong materialistic value orientation of mainstream economics and business does not help students to find deeper meaning and higher purpose in their profession. He argued that we should redesign our curricula, renew our teaching methods, and introduce meaningful… Read More »Fostering Consciousness in Business Education

      Alternative Economics

        In the Spring semester of 2025 Tamas Veress, Andras Ocsai, and Laszlo Zsolnai taught a course on Alternative Economics in the Jesuit Interdisciplinary College in Budapest. The course covered the following topics: (1) Foundations of “Mainstream” Economics, (2) Ecological Economics, (3) The Economics of Pope Francis, (4) Buddhist Economics, (5) De-growth Economics, (6) Community Economics, (7) Behavioral Economics, (8) Feminist Economics, (9) Wellbeing Economics, and (10) Alternative Economic Initiatives in Hungary. Students of the course… Read More »Alternative Economics

        Looking East Indian Wisdom for Modern Management

          Sanjoy Mukherjee: Looking East – Indian Wisdom for Modern Management. (2022, Peter Lang, Oxford). The book is an exploration of the relevance of Indian classical wisdom in reorienting modern management. It highlights the urgent need for facilitating an internally directed spiritual dimension to business management, including management education as an alternative to instrumental rationality and extreme materialistic orientation in today’s profit-driven business world. The book presents spirituality or enlightened consciousness as the essence of a… Read More »Looking East Indian Wisdom for Modern Management

          CEMS Thought Leadership

            In September 2025, the paper on „The University in the Anthropocene” by Paul Shrivastava and Laszlo Zsolnai was included in the CEMS Thought Leadership Series. https://www.cems.org/thought-leadership/university-anthropocene  

            Interdisciplinary Business Ethics in Hungary

              The paper on “Interdisciplinary Business Ethics in Hungary” by Laszlo Zsolnai was published in the book Cowton, C., von Weltzien Høivik, H., Jeurissen, R., Jansen, B. (Eds): Researching and Teaching Business Ethics in Europe. Springer, pp. 95-112. The paper presents the history of business ethics in Hungary through the case of the Business Ethics Center of Corvinus University of Budapest. The Center introduced business ethics in the country in the early 1990s and since then… Read More »Interdisciplinary Business Ethics in Hungary

              Spirituality and Business in the Anthropocene

                My book on “Spirituality and Business in the Anthropocene” has been published by Palgrave-Macmillan in London in 2025. This contributed volume collects innovative papers by scholars from Europe, India, and the USA to investigate how spirituality can contribute to renewing business in response to the challenges of the Anthropocene era. Using insights from Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Existential Humanism the book explores the materialist worldviews in the Anthropocene and their relation to crises. Further, it… Read More »Spirituality and Business in the Anthropocene

                The Club of Rome

                  By July 2025 I have been elected as Full Member of The Club of Rome. I will contribute to The Club of Rome’s work on ecocivilisation, regenerative business, and redefining business education. My experience leading values-based initiatives across academia and civil society may help to rethink systems for a more just and sustainable world. https://www.clubofrome.org/member/zsolnai-laszlo/

                  Spirituality in Professional Higher Education

                    My paper has been publised in Journal of Human Values. Co-authors are Lisa Miller (Columbia University), Marjorie Woollacott (University of Oregon), and Julio Bermudez (The Catholic University of America, Washington D.C.). In the paper we argue that there is alarming psychological dysfunction within our universities. Depression, together with anxiety, substance abuse and chronic stress is widespread among students and faculty. Additionally, there isincreasing evidence of growing cultural, racial, political and other social-borne friction on and… Read More »Spirituality in Professional Higher Education

                    The Economics of Pope Francis

                      The paper by Laszlo Zsolnai on “The Economics of Pope Francis” was published in The Way, the journal of Jesuits in Britain in April 2025. (Vol 64, No. 2, pp. 23– 34.) The paper analyses the development of Pope Francis’ economic views from the time of his election to the present day. First, it briefly shows the relationship of St. Francis of Assisi, who inspired Pope Francis, to the economy and then explores – among other… Read More »The Economics of Pope Francis