Buddhist economics

The term was coined by Ernst Schumacher in 1955, when he travelled to Burma as an economic consultant for Prime Minister U Nu, and is used almost exclusively by followers of Schumacher and by Theravada Buddhist writers such as Prayudh Payutto and Phrabhavanaviriyakhun.

Schumacher's essay "Buddhist Economics" was first published in 1966 in Asia: A Handbook, and republished in Schumacher's influential collection Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (1973).

The efforts by the government of Bhutan are often considered an expression of Buddhist economics: for example, alongside traditional economic indicators, Bhutan uses a 'Gross national happiness' to measures of quality of life and non-economic wellbeing.

See also

• Buddhist socialism

External links

• E. F. Schumacher, "Buddhist Economics"
• Articles on Buddhist Economics and Gross National Happiness
• Gross National Happiness and altruistic economics
• Buddhist Economics: A Middle Way for the Market Place by Ven P.A. Payutto