Originally published as: Humanomics, Volume 25, Issue 1

Guest editor: Professor Balbir S. Sihag

ISSN/ISBN: 978-1-84855-514-3

More than two thousand years ago, some time during the last half of the fourth century BCE, Vishnugupta Chanakya (son of Chanak) Kautilya, who was addressed as an Acharya (professor) and statesman, wrote The Arthashastra - the science of wealth and welfare. It contains one hundred and fifty chapters, which are distributed among fifteen books. Writing style in ancient India was quite different from that of today. Generally, the ancient writers used to express their ideas in the third person to avoid any appearance of being egoistic. The Arthashastra develops three interlinked and mutually complementary parts: (i) Arthaniti (economic policies) to promote economic growth, (ii) dandaniti (administration of justice) to ensure judicial fairness, and (iii) videshniti (foreign affairs policy) to maintain independence and to expand the kingdom. Kautilya was an independent thinker and it would be an error to label him as an administrator. He has been credited with destroying the Nanda rule and installing Chandragupta Maurya (321 BCE-297 BCE) on the throne. However, there is no reference to the emperor Chandragupta or to his kingdom Magadha in The Arthashastra since it was meant to be a theoretical treatise. Kautilya believed that the establishment of a rule of law, an impartial judicial system, and private property rights, devising an incentive mechanism to ensure efficient and honest government officials, encouraging dharma (ethics), the moral and spiritual rules of human behavior, provision of infrastructure and capital formation were the key ingredients for the creation of a prosperous, safe and secure nation.

The papers in this special issue have been written by Professor Balbir S. Sihag, Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell.

Contents

Kautilya on Economics as a Separate Science
A very comprehensive approach is presented for determining the origin of economics as a science. Three kinds of inter-related issues are discussed: (i) how to interpret and evaluate earlier, particularly ancient, writings, (ii) the specification of the requirements for declaring economics as a science, and (iii) the definition, scope and methodology of economics.

Kautilya as a Forerunner of Neoclassical Price Theory
Rational reconstruction approach is used to present Kautilya’s understanding of several most basic concepts in economics.

Kautilya on Principles of Taxation
Modern tools of economic analysis are used to present Kautilya’s principles on income taxation.

Kautilya on International Trade Policies
A non-technical descriptive approach is followed to present Kautilya’s ideas on international trade.

Kautilya on Law, Economics, and Ethics
Modern research tools are used to present Kautilya’s ideas on contracts and property.

About Humanomics

Humanomics is a multidisciplinary journal devoted to the ethico-economic study of major socio-economic issues, with a world perspective. The main objective of the journal is to disseminate scholarly views and writings on ethico-economic issues for the awareness, education and interest of an informed readership.

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