The Middle Way

The road to common wealth, common ground and plain & simple happiness might just be the Middle Way.

No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path. - Siddharta Buddha

While Buddha is referring in this quote to spiritual salvation, his words ring true for economic salvation as well. In fact, a little-known branch of economics called Buddhist economics, might just have the answers to our questions about sustainability and inequality.

Buddhist economics turns our Western view of the economy on its head by making the following distinctions:

We’re all one. It’s no secret to Western readers that our usual way of thinking is in terms of “me, myself and I”. In econ classes, we are taught from first year level that rational individuals act to maximise their own welfare – thus, they act out of self-interest. In Buddhism, there is no “self”, and therefore no self-interest. The concept of self-interest is replaced by reciprocation, where people realise that by giving, we receive more in return.

Nuh (every)man, nuh cry. The main aspiration in Buddhism is to empower people to end suffering in their lives, as well as the lives of all other sentient beings. This stands in stark contrast to Western econ’s obsession with maximising profit. In Buddhism, your work should contribute to general welfare. Work is not seen as just a means to survive or make profit - it is an opportunity to grow spiritually and connect with your fellow human beings. This concept is also known in Buddhism as Right Livelihood, one of the steps on the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path. If your work is not contributing towards the cessation of suffering, you are missing a major part of the path.  

Hold the desire. In Western economics, “greed is good”. Our desire for accumulation is what drives our creativity and entrepreneurship – or so we're taught. In Buddhist economics, the aim is to simplify desire rather than glorify it – let go of your attachment to worldly goods and realise how little you really need to survive on. This attitude would, obviously, do a world of good for the environment.

Market, schmarket. In Western econ, the market is the economy. Buddhist economics rejects this view, since the market clearly doesn’t take into account the needs of future generations, and of the earth – though these are two very important stakeholders in any economy.  In a market system where demand can only be backed up by buying power, the poor and marginalised are often underrepresented. Think of the far-reaching consequences for poverty and inequality if we rather adapted this view of a market – one in which community based participation is paramount, rather than profit maximisation at all costs.

Your ouput’s no good with me. Buddhist economics values organisations in which caring and trust among all levels of the organisation are the true measure of output – not simply the marginal product produced. Anyone thinking of Chinese factories having to put up nets to stop their employees from jumping to their deaths right about now?

Less is more. In Buddhist economics, bigger is not necessarily better. If high trade volumes mean that there is more produce to choose from at the local supermarket, but the transport costs involved have been detrimental to the environment, then no value has truly been added by expanding choice.

Happiness is me. Though the shortcomings of conventional measures of economic activity such as GDP have long been recognised by the Western world, we continue to pursue GDP growth. Buddhist economics realises that this is fatal, and focuses instead on happiness as the main outcome of the economic process.

As the Buddha said - no one can save us but ourselves. Are we willing to make the change?

Buddhist Economics is an exciting and promising field of economic thought that deserves more investigation and attention. To read more about it, refer to E.F. Schumacher’s “Buddhist Economics.”