Frederic L. Pryor, Ph.D., is professor of economics at Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA 19081.
摘要
Although there is little discussion of distributive justice in the Ther avada canon, the Buddhist State is advised to provide all people with a minimum income. Radiation theory sees the economy prospering through the virtuous actions of individuals following the moral law. Early Buddhist writings generally accept existing political and economic institutions, even while providing a democratic social ethos revolutionary for its time. King Asoka, greatest of all Indian emperors, pursued a highly activist fiscal policy even though he believed only meditation could help people to advance in moral living. But canonical beliefs about economic activity are much more ambiguous than economic literature often indicates. Hence today there are rightist and leftist Buddhists, differing in interpretation. One can infer economic behavior from the principles of Theravada Buddhism, as I reported in my previous essay, "A Buddhist Economic System-in Principle" (Pryor, 1990). This leaves the question what influence did they bear on economic behavior as reported in the Theravada canon. Thus we advance from homilies to annals, and find that this branch of Buddhism was not as "other-worldly" as Max Weber thought.
目次
Abstract 17 I. Income Redistribution in the Ideal State 17 II. Radiation: Virtue as a Positive Externality 18 III. Trade through the Market 19 IV. Other Economic Institutions 20 V. Economic Policies 21 VI. Three Brief Meditation on the Economic Impact of Canonical Buddhism 23 The Economic Dialectic Between the Monks and the Laity 23 The Problem of Needs and Wants 26 The Problem of Economic Complexity 27 VII. Buddhism as a Guidepost for a Modern Economic System 28 Notes 30 References 31
