Parallel currencies are currencies that are issued by the state as an official second currency alongside legal tender currency and can also be designated as legal tender. A parallel currency can be a stable, hard currency (e.g., a foreign currency) that is used alongside a weak national currency, to combat hyperinflation in the national currency […]

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The American philosopher Charles Eisenstein has popularized the idea of ‘living in the gift’. This means a culture in which people share with each other without expecting something in return. Large areas of our lives only work through the gift economy: most work done in families works on the principle of the ‘gift economy’, for […]

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All loyalty points systems such as Air Miles, Nectar Points etc. aim to persuade customers to remain loyal to a particular company. Customers of a particular company collect points, which they can exchange for discounts with the issuing company or its partners. Points can be in electronic or paper voucher form. These so-called private corporate […]

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The invented German word ‘Regiogeld’ is an abbreviation for the concept of ‘regional money’, a local medium of exchange similar to the Euro. Its main difference to the Euro is it is only valid in one region, which is usually designated by the name of the local initiative: Chiemgauer, Havelblüte, Elbtaler, Vorarlberger Talente. In the […]

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People who want to make a contribution to reforming the financial or money system are often recommended to move their money to another bank or to include ethical criteria in their choice of investment. The anti-globalisation network Attac has been calling for some time now for people to change banks: instead of purely commercial banks […]

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Virtual currencies only exist in online ‘worlds’ and games. They have no physical form and cannot be used outside of these spaces. Some online gaming worlds like “Second Life” issue currencies. Players buy this currency with national currency. They can only use this currency to use, exchange or buy virtual objects for use in the […]

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Islamic Banking describes banking business according to Islamic, Sharia principles. Peculiarities of banking based on the Koran include not only a ban on charging interest but also the avoidance of speculative business and unethical investments of clients’ money such as in alcohol, tobacco and pornography. Islamic Banking thus includes on the one hand the issuance […]

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States have had varying degrees of influence in different times and places over how banks create money. In some periods, money creation and the denomination of coins was left completely to the commercial banks. In such times when individual banks had the power to issue their own banknotes one speaks of “Free Banking”. The market […]

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  Modern Money Theory claims to be the first empirically supported account of how the modern “fiat” money system works. According to MMT, non-cash commercial bank loans are promises to pay which, by their very nature, are not subject to money supply constraints. MMT’s view of how the credit mechanism works has since been confirmed […]

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The Economy for the Common Good – an economic model with a future – is both an idea and a movement that wishes, through a democratic, participatory and open-ended process, to establish an economic system in which the common good has the highest priority. Money and economy should be the means to an end rather […]

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