Most people think that money is created by the state or the central bank. But central banks only issue the cash we use, which is about 10% of the total money supply. Only a fraction of money has its origin in the state, namely notes and coins. By contrast, around 90% of the money supply […]

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All the great religions include a ban on usury, the charging of unjust interest, and Islamic Banking still practices this principle today. Very worldly businesses that also practice interest-free banking include the Swedish JAK-Genossenschaftsbank, in which customers save and lend money without interest, regional currencies, or the idea of a currency with a “circulation incentive”, […]

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Nigel Dodd, 2014, Princeton University Pres. Questions about the nature of money have gained a new urgency in the aftermath of the global financial crisis. Even as many people have less of it, there are more forms and systems of money, from local currencies and social lending to mobile money and Bitcoin. Yet our understanding […]

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