Daoist Sufficiency and the Governance of Economic Anxiety: Inflation, Buy-Local Attention, and Financial Inclusion in the Philippines

Abstract

Inflation is not only a macroeconomic condition; it is also a public-administration problem because public institutions shape price communication, consumer protection, market access, social assistance, and support for local enterprise. This study examines the relationships among inflation, economic anxiety, and buy-local search interest in the Philippines and interprets them through a Daoist public-administration framework centered on knowing sufficiency (zhizu), reduced desire (shaosi guayu), simplicity (pu), naturalness and local adaptation (ziran), and non-coercive action (wuwei). A quarterly national data set for 2018Q1-2025Q4 combined Philippine headline inflation, Google Trends search-interest indicators, and Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas consumer-confidence data. Correlation, ordinary least squares regression, robust standard errors, lag models, first differences, and Newey-West corrections were used. The baseline model explained 57.0% of the variance in buy-local search interest. Search-based and survey-based economic anxiety were positively associated with buy-local attention, whereas inflation was not significant after anxiety indicators were included. To strengthen the governance interpretation, the article also incorporates aggregate findings from a separate mixed-methods study of 373 women micro-entrepreneurs in Kalinga. That study reported moderate financial inclusion, strong dependence on institutional accessibility, stronger benefits for household and socio-economic empowerment than for employment creation, and persistent barriers involving requirements, costs, digital capability, trust, and care responsibilities. The article does not treat Daoism as a measured variable or claim that buy-local behavior is inherently Daoist. Instead, it proposes a public-administration ethic of sufficient, simple, locally adaptive, and enabling governance: monitor anxiety without manipulating it, reduce administrative burden, protect proportionate choice, and build accessible financial and market institutions that strengthen household and MSME resilience.