Supply, Demand and Bow: Buddhist Economics

One of Thailand’s newspapers, The Nation, printed an article by Thanong Khanthong in which he shows his prescience:

Here is what I wrote in 1998:

“The impending collapse of the global capital system could heighten the interest of economists and thinkers on Buddhist economics, expounded by Thailand’s candidate for this year’s [1998] Nobel Peace Prize, the Venerable Prayudh Payutto.

He goes on:

“In conventional economics, when there is a demand for, say, whisky, it is supplied by production - growing grain, distilling it into liquor and distributing it to the consumers. ‘When it is consumed, demand is satisfied. Modern economic thinking stops here, at the satisfaction of the demand. There is no investigation of what happens after the demand is satisfied,’ Payutto says.

“By contrast, he says, economics inspired by dhamma would be concerned with how economic activities influence the entire process of cause and condition, which will essentially affect the three interconnected spheres of human existence: individual, society and nature or the environment. ‘In the case of the demand for a commodity such as whisky, we would have to ask ourselves how liquor production affects the ecology and how its consumption affects the individual and society,’ he argues.

Interesting. Definitely worth the read.

(Bows, BuddhistChannel and About.com)