a triarchy press publication
http://www.triarchypress.com/pages/Regional-Currencies-People-Money.htm
People Money: The Promise of Regional Currencies
by Margrit Kennedy, Bernard Lietaer and John Rogers
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For customers in North America, copies are printed in and shipped from
the USA.
Epub version: available here
Kindle versions: amazon.co.uk | amazon.com
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About the book
People Money is a comprehensive guide to the principles and practice of
regional currencies.
It shows how regional currencies can transform the lives and well-being
of local communities, how they can sustain businesses, how local
authorities can participate in their success and, consequently, why
supporting regional currencies is of vital importance to the future of
your community, region or country.
It is also a comprehensive guide to the development process and
implementation of a regional currency.
The Present Currency System
"Centralised national money destroys community. It makes us deal with
human beings like we deal with dented cans – we throw them away when we
can’t make a profit from them ..."
Bob Fishman, Equal Dollars Community Currency
In the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, vast numbers of people
have had their livelihoods stripped away and, for many, the future
looks bleak. There is a growing gap between the haves and have-nots and
the disagreements between policy makers (economists and governments)
about how to ‘rebalance the economy’ increasingly suggest that nobody
has control or knows what to do.
The growth vs. austerity options under consideration will do little to
help the financial sector stabilise. According to the IMF, there have
been at least 145 banking crises, 208 monetary crashes and 72
sovereign-debt crises in the last 40 years and these are bound to
continue if we stay with the present approach.
It is not just another downturn in the business cycle but a deep
systemic crisis caused by the rift between a casino economics based on
monetary speculation and the social and ecological realities of our
time. The only way to bridge this chasm between money and planet,
between money and people is to reinvent money.
The Change and Benefits of Regional Currencies
Communities are full of underused resources: individuals with time and
talents; businesses with spare capacity in the form of restaurant
tables, hire cars, printing services, theatre seats; voluntary
associations with underused vehicles and rooms; local authorities with
underused community and leisure centres.
Regional Currencies reinvent money to mobilize these resources without
burdening taxpayers either at the national or regional level. Regional
Currencies:
value talents and skills
rebuild communities and strengthen local economies
help protect local environments share inventory, labour and skills that
could serve the community
harness volunteers more effectively
support learning, training and skills-sharing
sustain local businesses with spare capacity
meet the demand for the care and support of the elderly.
Furthermore, they are not subject to the risk of a meltdown in the
financial sector. Like the Brixton or Lewes pound (and there are many
thousands of them worldwide, in Germany, France, Belgium, Switzerland,
Brazil, Venezuela, South Africa, New Zealand, ...) regional currencies
behave and do what national currencies don’t do.
Who should read People Money?
Anyone who is interested in developing and implementing a regional
currency
Policy makers on the funding of education, sustainable initiatives,
social welfare, youth projects etc.
Business leaders with spare capacity
NGOs or organisations who want to attract more volunteers
Local authority and community leaders
Talent exchange initiatives
Anyone who doesn’t understand the importance of regional currencies
Contents
In Part 1, The Case for Regional Currencies, the authors give an
excellent overview of the present monetary system – its history and
purpose - and an explanation of its inherent weaknesses. They include a
short history of regional currencies and their effects, with examples
dating back to 1265. (The oldest one in existence today is the WIR bank
in Switzerland, now 78 years old with a turnover of the equivalent of
1.627 billion Swiss Francs in 2010.)
The characteristics and purpose of the various models of commercial-
and community-oriented currencies are then explained, with examples
from rich and poor, urban and rural communities. Different types of
currency – voucher systems, circulating currencies, exchange rings and
micro-credit banks – are looked at in detail.
A regional currency should ideally:
represent a win-win situation for all participants
be organised with the aim of mutual social benefit
be professionally run
be transparent for its users
be democratically governed
be sustainably financed
contain circulation incentives.
Drawing on the experiences of organisers of regional currencies, the
authors describe the administration and governance of the currencies,
how to cooperate with other financial institutions, clearing systems
and the issue of taxation.
Part 2, Regional Currencies in Practice, focuses on the ‘how to’ of
developing a regional currency and the benefits that have accrued as a
result of their implementation.
Regional currencies can be started by individuals, businesses or local
government authorities. Through years of experience and in-depth
interviewing of the organisers of different currencies, the authors
have developed a framework of 5 phases for new developers to work from.
Each of these phases is clearly explained so that, by the end, currency
designers will have a:
Currency mechanism
Cost recovery model
Management structure and key job descriptions
Appropriate governance model
Marketing strategy: a suitable name and the beginnings of a corporate
identity
Training needs assessment and plan to recruit ‘multipliers’ who will
publicise and explain the concept throughout the region.
Map of other projects in the regional and social economy, which are
complementary to the regional currency and could work together
Project presentation portfolio for decision makers and multipliers
Finally, the book profiles of some of the leading organisers of
regional currencies around the world, explaining their driving passion
and the nuances of each of the models – how the currency started, how
it developed, the difficulties encountered on the journey, and how
these were overcome.
Regional currencies featured in the book include:
Banco Palmas, Brazil ~ WIR Bank, Switzerland ~
The Business Exchange, Scotland ~ Community Connect Trade, USA ~
RES, Belgium ~ PuntoTRANSaccioines, El Salvador ~
Brixton Pound, England ~ Talente Tauschkreis Vorarlberg, Austria ~
Equal Dollars, USA ~ BerkShares, USA ~
Chiemgauer, Germany ~ SOL Violette, France ~
Ithaca HOURS, USA ~ Dane County Time Bank, USA ~
Blaengarw Time Centre, Wales ~ Community Exchange System, S. Africa ~
[For a much more detailed explanation of the history and current
conduct of the money system and how it threatens not just economic
stability but social and environmental sustainability altogether – see
Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link.]
About the Authors
Prof. Dr. Margrit Kennedy is an architect with a Masters Degree in
Urban and Regional Planning and a Ph.D. in Public and International
Affairs, who worked for UNESCO and OECD and was a professor for
Ecological Building Technologies in the Department of Architecture at
the University of Hanover. Projects in ecological architecture for the
International Building Exhibition Berlin in 1987 led her to the
discovery that it is virtually impossible to carry out sound ecological
concepts on the scale required today without fundamentally altering the
present money system or creating new complementary currencies. In her
two books Interest and Inflation Free Money (1987 - translated into 23
languages since) and Occupy Money (2012) she explores the systemic
problems of the present system and the advantages of using new
complementary monetary designs. Her work in this field has been
instrumental for the start of more than 60 regional currency
initiatives in the German speaking parts of Europe.
Bernard Lietaer has been active in money systems for 35 years in an
unusual variety of functions. While at the Central Bank in Belgium he
co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism (ECU) to the
single European currency system and served as President of Belgium’s
Electronic Payment System. He was General Manager and Currency Trader
for the Gaia Hedge Funds, when Business Week identified him in 1990 as
the world’s top trader. He is currently Research Fellow at the
University of California, Berkeley, and Visiting Professor at the
Finance University in Moscow. He is the author of fifteen books
relating to monetary and financial issues.
John Rogers cut his teeth with local currencies by running a local
exchange system in Wales for 10 years. He co-founded the Wales
Institute for Community Currencies at the University of Newport, which
he directed with Geoff Thomas from 2003-2007. They coordinated research
into the effects of time banking in ex-mining communities, which was
published by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 'Hidden Work'. He now
offers training and consulting for local currencies through Value for
People and has spoken and led workshops at many international
conferences.