Zen Economics

Just as Zen sages taught that attitudes and behaviour can suddenly alter, Van de Weyer combines economic analysis with social and philosophical insight to reveal how the entire world is on the verge of an economic and social transformation. The thrift practised by the Japanese, which has caused their economy to stagnate, will soon spread to all affluent countries, because it is the rational response to the economic, social and spiritual challenges that affluent people are now facing. But thrift on a global scale, far from causing stagnation, will enable many of the world's most intractable problems to be solved. Van de Weyer offers practical financial and personal advice on how to participate in-and cope with-this global change. This book carries several messages of hope, which are linked by the theme of saving and investing. Its message is that in the western world most of us have reached a point of prosperity where the investment with the highest rate of return is investing in the self.