Friday, April 9, 2010, 9:30–9:40am
Adam Engle, MBA.CEO, Mind and Life Institute

Andreas Fischer, Ph.D., President of the University or Zurich

Friday, April 9, 2010, Friday, 9:40am–11:30am

This session includes short presentations summarizing the Buddhist, neuro-scientific and psychological views on empathy, compassion and pro-social motivation. It shows why these qualities are relevant for individual and societal wellbeing by explaining the effects of compassion training on the brain with the most recent neuro-scientific findings.

Friday, April 9, 2010, 1.30pm–3.30pm

This session focuses on questions of altruism and egoism as conceived in Buddhist and Western philosophy as well as in economic theory. It explores how altruism and compassion can be brought into economic systems and what the benefits would be. In addition, the evolutionary anthropologist perspective will look at cooperation and altruism in other species.

Saturday, April 10, 2010, 9:30am–11:30am

This session presents the most important findings from economic research on cooperation, decision-making and pro-social motivation and behavior (e.g. the neural basis of giving, and the role of punishment for cooperation). Furthermore, it examines whether new economic models in which self-interest has been replaced by other-regarding interest already exist.

Saturday, April 10, 2010, 1.30pm–3.30pm

This session focuses on applied economic models such as microfinance, social business, responsible investment and philanthropy. The ensuing discussion will compare these different economic models to each other and critically discuss the role of donations.

Sunday, April 11, 2010, 9:30am–11:30am

After a talk about the role of leadership, this final session concentrates on future avenues of research and policy-making as a result of the preceding days. It will explore ways to ensure that science, contemplative practices and economics learn more from each other.