Walter Moss published an article “Is Consumer Capitalism Outdated?” in Los Angeles based LA Progressive which analyses and connects Occupy Wall Street, Spirituality in Business, E.F. Schumacher’s human scale economics, Steve Jobs’ legacy and Laszlo Zsolnai’s work on Buddhist Economics. He argues that perhaps the best we can do in our present period of malaise is to seek the truth and wisely attempt to bring our lives and societies more in keeping with it.
A paper on “Business for the Greater Good: GNH Rating for Enterprises” by Laszlo Zsolnai and Zoltan Valcsicsak was presented at the 7th International Conference on Gross National Happiness in November 7-9, 2017 in Thimpu, Bhutan. The authors argued that Gross National Happiness (GNH) provides an alternative framework that can help enterprises to develop broader, more inclusive business models that aim to serve the greater good of society. The four pillars of GNH may be… Read More »Business for the Greater Good: GNH Rating for Enterprises
Laszlo Zsolnai ‘Buddhism and Economic Development.’ , in Teaching Buddhism, eds. Todd Lewis, and Gary DeAngelis, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2016. Buddhist Economics is not the same as Economics of Buddhism. The former is a modern discourse that utilizes elements of Buddhist thought to construct an alternative model of the economy and the latter is a study of how Buddhists organize their econimic life in real-world social settings, past or present. Buddhist Economics is essentially a normative enterprise… Read More »Buddhism and Economic Development
This presentation explores the principles of Buddhist economics and shows why „less is more” and „small is beautiful” in our ecologically and socially degrading world.
Canadian business journalist Peter Hadekel published an interview with Laszlo Zsolnai about the relevance of Buddhist economics for Western economies on March 7, 2013 in Montreal Gazette. The main message is that Buddhism can be both helpful and inspiring in taking the consciousness of businesses and customers to another level.
The Buddhist Economics Research Platform, the Loden Foundation, Bhutan and the Hungarian Bhutan Friendship Society in partnership with the European SPES Forum and the European Buddhist Union organized an international workshop ‘Buddhist Values in Business and its Potential for Europe’ on 24-25 November 2012, in Brussels (Belgium). Partly inspired by Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness, the workshop was designed for people from the business or academic sectors interested or involved in Buddhist Business/Economics as well as for entrepreneurs, university students and leaders of Buddhist organizations.… Read More »Buddhist Values in Business and its Potential for Europe
On 18-19 June 2011 the European Buddhist Union organized an informal networking workshop at the Naropa Institute in Cadzand, the Netherlands. Socially engaged Buddhist networks from the United States, Asia and Europe were represented. The purpose of the brainstorming weekend was to share ideas on how Buddhism can contribute to a better world, to evaluate the links between Buddhist practice and social engagement, to encourage communication and support among existing Buddhist initiatives worldwide. Laszlo Zsolnai participated in the… Read More »Socially Engaged Buddhism
The Faraday Institute for Science and Spirituality of the University of Cambridge organized an international conference entitled “Sustainability in Crisis” in September 26-28, 2011 in Cambridge. Laszlo Zsolnai has been invited to present a view of Buddhist economics on sustainability. In his presentation “Sustainable Growth or Right Livelihood” he argued that not sustainable growth but sustainable livelihood should be the main goal for economic policies. Sustainable livelihood implies the de-growth of the material side of the… Read More »Sustainable Growth or Right Livelihood?
Laszlo Zsolnai (Ed.): Ethical Principles and Economic Transformation – A Buddhist Approach. Springer, 2011. (This book may be available at Springer) The book presents new contributions of Buddhist economics to pressing socio-economic problems. Buddhism points out that emphasizing individuality and promoting the greatest fulfillment of the desires of the individual conjointly lead to destruction. The book promotes the basic value-choices of Buddhism, namely happiness, peace and permanence. Happiness research convincingly shows that not material wealth… Read More »Ethical Principles and Economic Transformation – A Buddhist Approach
Laszlo Zsolnai created a bibliography which collects important titles in the intersection of Buddhism, ethics, psychology and economics. It represents a body of knowledge which can serve as a good background for exploring and developing Buddhist economics scholarship. Bibliography of Buddhist Economics