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Papers

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

    The University in the Anthropocene

      The paper by Paul Shrivastava and Laszlo Zsolnai on “The University in the Anthropocene” was published in International Journal of Ethics & Systems (March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-11-2024-0382) This paper reconsiders the role of universities in the context of the grand challenges of the Anthropocene era, namely, climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystems collapse, growing inequalities, welfare deficiencies and social unrest. The paper uses the “idealized design” methodology, which suggests imagining what the ideal solution would be and… Read More »The University in the Anthropocene

      Economic Conceptions and Business Models of Christianity and Buddhism

        The paper by Gabor Kovacs and Laszlo Zsolnai on “Economic Conceptions and Business Models of Christianity and Buddhism” was published in Business & Society Review (March 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/basr.70000) The paper interprets and comparatively analyzes the economic conceptions of Christianity and Buddhism and their representative business models. The paper contributes to the business and society literature by showing the relevance and applicability of Christian and Buddhist business models in the Anthropocene era. The authors argue that… Read More »Economic Conceptions and Business Models of Christianity and Buddhism

        Building Practical Wisdom in Business, Organisation and Management through Transformative Civic Education (´Bildung´)

          The paper by Wendelin Küpers, Paul Shrivastava, & Laszlo Zsolnai on “Building Practical Wisdom in Business, Organisation and Management through Transformative Civic Education (´Bildung´)” was published in Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion in October, 2024. http://DOI: https://doi.org/10.51327/SOWN9168 This paper revisits the concept of “Bildung” as a transformative approach to civic education, aimed at renewing business and management education and organisational practices to foster both human and non-human flourishing and sustainability. It synthesises key insights… Read More »Building Practical Wisdom in Business, Organisation and Management through Transformative Civic Education (´Bildung´)

          How to Renew Business Ethics Education?

            My paper on “How to Renew Business Ethics Education?” was published in Journal of Human Values in 2024 August. The paper argues that business ethics education is losing credibility worldwide. This is partly due to the experience that teaching ethics in business schools does not necessarily help future professionals to be more ethical in business. The article suggests that business ethics courses should be renewed both in contents and pedagogy. It advances a position that… Read More »How to Renew Business Ethics Education?

            The Awakened Brain

              Laszlo Zsolnai’s review on Lisa Miller’s book “The Aawkened Brain” has been published in Journal of Management, Spirituality & Religion 19(5) October 2022. pp. 546-549. DOI: https://doi.org/10.51327/YYAK1825 Lisa Miller is a professor of psychology at Columbia University who has a joint appointment at Columbia Teachers College and Columbia Medical School. She is a well-known scholar in the field of spirituality and depression and serves as the founding director of the Spirituality Mind Body Institute at… Read More »The Awakened Brain

              Spirituality and Economics

                My paper on “Spirituality and Economics” has been published in the Journal for the Study of Spirituality in the UK. https://doi.org/10.1080/20440243.2022.2126136 This paper argues that mainstream economics is a materialist and reductionist science. It criticizes the core assumptions of mainstream economics – namely, the existence of ‘Homo Oeconomicus’ and the goals of profit maximization, economic efficiency, and economic growth; and shows that these goals lead to an economy that is not only unhealthy for people… Read More »Spirituality and Economics

                Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research

                  Paul Shrivastava, Laszlo Zsolnai, David Wasieleski, and Philippe Mairesse: “Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research” Ground Works 2022 August  https://groundworks.io/journal/commentaries/9 In this paper the authors consider transdisciplinarity to be qualitatively different from interdisciplinarity or multidisciplinarity in several crucial ways. Transdisciplinary work takes its problems from the real world and not disciplinary gaps in knowledge or combining disciplines for innovative new understandings. Transdisciplinarity involves co-creation of integrated knowledge across disciplines with stakeholders to solve problems on the ground.… Read More »Ecologies of Transdisciplinary Research

                  Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy

                    Laszlo Zsolnai: “Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy” JOURNAL FOR THE STUDY OF SPIRITUALITY 2022. No. 1. This article describes the background to, and focus of, a new and extensive research program being undertaken at the Corvinus Institute for Advanced Studies of the Corvinus University of Budapest, Hungary. Entitled the Economy and Religion Program, it aims to explore and study the multiple roles that religion and spirituality play in the functioning of the… Read More »Spirituality, religion and the functioning of the economy

                    Wellbeing Oriented Organizations

                      I published a major paper on Wellbeing Oriented Organizations with Paul Shrivastava (Penn State University). We argue for connecting human flourishing with ecological regeneration and provide real world examples of innovative business and social organizations doing this. The paper is available online as open access publication at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/beer.12421