Kautilya’s Vedic and Ethics-based Economics

* Chapter: Sihag, B.S. (2024). Kautilya’s Ethics-based Economics vs Modern Economics. In: Chakravarti, S.S., Chatterjee, A., Chakravarti, A., Widdison, L. (eds) Traditional Indian Virtue Ethics for Today. Palgrave Studies in Comparative East-West Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. doi

URL = https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-47972-4_10

Description

"Vedas were composed more than five thousand years ago. Rig Veda is the oldest and possesses the collected wisdom of four hundred and fourteen seers. These Vedic seers identified the dharmic virtues, such as non-violence, compassion, truthfulness, tolerance, and malice against no one (the ethical infrastructure) to pave the path to bliss and to hold the society together. These virtues are secular, relevant for all times, and possess intrinsic value. The seers proposed the “Heavenly Rule” of ethics for creating heaven on earth. Vishnugupta Chanakya (son of Chanaka) Kautilya believed that these secular virtues pave the path to bliss as well as to riches. He argued that highest possible and equitable economic growth was feasible only in an ethical society. On the other hand, decisions guided by self-interest would lead to suboptimal and inequitable economic growth.

His ideas related to:

(A) engineering highest possible and equitable economic growth,

(B) reduction in socially unproductive activities,

(C) mitigation of systemic risk, and

(D) ethical anchoring are presented."