BUDDHIST ECONOMICS

“Creating Meaningful Lives in Sustainable World”

CLAIR BROWN, University of California, Berkeley
 CRITICAL PROBLEMS

Inequality Climate Change

BUDDHIST ECONOMICS
1. INTERDEPENDENCE
With Each Other & Nature
 Barry Commoner
Founder of modern ecology

• Interdependence is one of the four laws of ecology:

“Everything is connected to everything else. There is one

ecosphere for all living organisms and what affects one,
affects all.”
Barry Commoner, The Closing Circle: Nature, Man, and Technology (New
York: Random House, 1971).

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2. IMPERMANENCE
Everything changes
3. COMPASSION
Reduce suffering
FREE MARKET ECONOMICS
 3 Beliefs

1. More is better

2. People are selfish and rational

3. Goal is maximize income

 FREE MARKET V. BUDDHIST ECONOMICS

Goal: maximize average national income Goal: provide well-being for all
(“more is better”) in sustainable world.
 Data and Evidence: 4 observations

1. Inequality and CO2 emissions go together

• GDP growth has increased inequality—rich grab

increased GDP
• GDP growth has increased CO2 emissions

Our focus on GDP growth is creating catastrophe that will

make planet uninhabitable for humans.
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 Overconsumption by Rich Countries
• UN benchmark: 2.1 tCO2e (metric tons of carbon) per
person per year by 2050
• US average 16.4 tCO2 per person
• Richest 10%: Avg 50 tCO2e per person
• Bottom 50% of income: Avg 8.5 tCO2e per person
• EU average 6.7 tCO2 per person.

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 2. Inequality reduces well-being

• People feel worse off as inequality grows

• Invidious comparisons (relative income important)
• Well-being index worsens as income inequality increases
across rich countries

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3. Global Subsidies to Fossil Fuel Industry
and to the Rich (direct payments, in-kind payments)
• Direct fossil fuel subsidies worldwide $333 billion
• Add social costs (indirect costs to human health &
environmental damage): subsidies are $5.3 trillion (6.5% of
global output).
• Source: IMF for 2015

• Low-income families & regions indirectly (worse health &

pollution & climate crisis) subsidize rich people & nation’s
high-carbon, wasteful lifestyles.
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Transferring well-being from low-income people
to rich people

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 Are People Altruistic or Selfish?
Interdependent or Individualistic?

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4. People are altruistic as well as self-regarding

• Psychologists & neuroscientists confirm: people act with

altruism as well as selfishness.
• Economists observe in lab games: people have altruistic feelings.

• Altruism: unconditional caring about others with no ulterior

motive

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WHAT CREATES HAPPINESS?

Helping others Enjoying nature

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 Psychologists:
What makes people happy?

• Being kind to others makes people happier.

• Eudaimonic happiness comes from helping others, good
relationships, contributing to community, and enjoying
surroundings.
• Hedonic happiness from buying stuff doesn’t last long.

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Buddhist Economy can create a healthier,
happier world.

• Known government policies to reduce inequality, provide

economic security and opportunity for all people.
• Roadmaps show how to create sustainable economy with
carbon-free energy, regenerative agriculture, and clean water.
• UN Millennium Development Goals demonstrated how to
reduce global hunger and poverty, and educate women and
girls.
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 Role of Government

• Rules,
incentives to structure markets, along with
social programs to achieve social goals
• Transition to modern, low carbon, equitable
economy.
• Create an economy that supports meaningful life for
all people and cares for Mother Earth.
 INDIVIDUALS

1. Live Mindfully with Love, Compassion & Wisdom

2. IMPT: Work Together & Take Action

 CORPORATIONS

1. Green Production & Green Products

2. Living wages and balanced life

MEASURING ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE
(GDP or Well-being?)

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New measurement of economic performance

• Economic performance is no longer income growth

• Includes equity, sustainability, family and community
• Measures well-being of people and the environment

UK, France, OECD, UN have created economic performance measures

that include quality of life, distribution and sustainability.

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 Equitable Global Solution
All countries
• Use clean energy and regenerative agriculture.
• Waste less food (30% wasted globally; 40% in US) and eat less
meat.
• Animals use 83% of farmland, cause 57% of food-related emissions, provide
18% of calories.
Rich countries reduce wasteful consumption; fly less; support
sustainable development in poor countries.
Poor countries increase basic consumption; reduce population
growth.
 CLOSING THOUGHTS

We need political will and courage to take action on behalf of people and
Mother Earth, over generations.

This is a lifetime commitment and process.

May we continue the journey together.

 BUDDHIST ECONOMICS:
An enlightened approach to the dismal science
Clair Brown
Bloomsbury Press
Buddhisteconomics.net

Gratitude to friends around the world for insight and support.

 Paris 2015 (COP21)-- Not Enough.
• Need to stay under 1.5C to prevent catastrophic changes--
sea level rise, warm & acidic oceans, droughts, inadequate water
supplies, deaths from overheating & disease.
• Current pledges will cause temperatures to rise 2.9C by 2100.
• If countries do not act: temperatures rise 4.5C
• Top four emitters (China 27%, US 15%, EU 10%, India 7%) cause
59% of GHGs.
 COUNTRY POLICIES
support meaningful, sustainable life for all

1.Tax and transfer

2.Sustainable agriculture

3.Measure economic performance holistically

4. Peace and prosperity

 What is happiness
in free market economics?
• Hedonic happiness—the pursuit of pleasure and the
avoidance of pain
• Measured as subjective well-being, a predominance
of positive over negative affect
• Cantril ladder: measures “happiness” by person
stating which step “you personally feel you stand at this
time” (worst possible to best possible life for me)
What is happiness in Buddhist economics?

• Buddhism—Happiness comes from within, not from consumption. Grasping makes us

suffer.
• Attain true freedom and peace— Stop mental habits of craving and responding to
external stimuli. Be in touch with your loving-kindness, generosity, and wisdom.

• Low-income problem—People need basic consumption in a supportive community. Then

they can focus on creating a meaningful life.
1. What is important to me?

2. What do I need to live a meaningful life?

Global Income Deciles and Associated Lifestyle Consumption Emissions

Source: Oxfam Report 2015