Moderation, contentment, work, and alms—A Buddhist household theory

The paper deals with household theory from the angle of Buddhist thought. We build on the Buddhist terms of tanha versus chanda to express Buddhist preferences and Buddhist household theory in terms of textbook microeconomic terms. We find that preferences of Buddhist (enlightened) people may differ from those of non-Buddhist people in a systematic manner. Among other hypotheses, we deduce that Buddhists work harder than non-Buddhists if we control for meditation time. We argue that any full-grown Buddhist economics (if it is to exist) needs to build on Buddhist preference and household theory, either as presented here or in a different form.

► Buddhists work harder than non-Buddhists if we control for meditation time. ► Buddhist who may earn less or more than non-Buddhist spends a larger fraction of their income for altruistic purposes. ► Non-Buddhist agents sometimes engage in meditation.