Conscious economics: Reconstructing economic agency through rational egoism and ontological accountability

Abstract

This article introduces conscious economics as a novel paradigm that integrates rational egoism with consciousness expansion to redefine economic agency as an ethically self-aware and developmentally oriented process. Drawing on Kohlberg’s cognitive moral development and Maslow’s self-transcendence, the framework positions ethical self-interest as a function of ontological integration, self-transcendence, and intergenerational accountability. In contrast to conventional models that treat ethical behavior as externally enforced or structurally constrained, conscious economics centers the cultivation of inner awareness as the foundation for sustainable value creation. The article contributes to knowledge in two primary ways. First, it reframes economic rationality through the lens of cognitive and spiritual development, thereby challenging dominant assumptions of moral neutrality in market behavior. Second, it introduces the construct of ontological accountability, which extends the temporal and metaphysical scope of economic decision-making. Through a synthesis of moral psychology, transpersonal development, and stakeholder ethics, this research advances a psychologically grounded and ethically robust model of capitalism capable of aligning individual flourishing with planetary and societal well-being. It concludes by identifying structural barriers to implementation and offers empirically grounded solutions rooted in moral cultivation, institutional redesign, and consciousness-based practices.