Buddhist Economics: An Enlightened Approach to the Dismal Science

Brown, a University of California, Berkeley professor of economics, believes the primary concern of the free market is profit and prosperity, but such a gain must be weighed against the crises that it produces, including income inequality, climate damage, poverty, and overpopulation. For a country to be prosperous, she writes, it is commonly assumed that free market economics will provide the best outcome to its citizens. Buddhist economics, on the other hand, requires a different metric: shared prosperity through minimizing suffering and striving toward equality of well-being for all. Brown explains the Buddhist economic world as quasi-utopian: the end of poverty, universal healthcare, humane working conditions, proper recognition of human rights, efforts to stop and perhaps even reverse climate damage. Not to be written off as an idealist, she offers concrete suggestions for the implementation of a Buddhist economic program and metrics to assess progress towards equity and stability. Such suggestions include a redistribution of wealth in society (naturally, the rich must simplify and give up their luxuries), a restructuring of preexisting markets, and new regulations and taxes (such as carbon and pollution taxes). Though she treads familiar ground in her criticism of free market economics, Brown’s economic program is compelling and stimulating, asking readers to consider both how they contribute to contemporary conditions and how they can break out of them. [em]Agent: Lisa Adams, Garamond Agency (Feb.) [/em]