Recommended literature

Rethinking Money


Rethinking Money by Bernard Lietaer and Jacqui Dunhttp://www.lietaer.com/writings/books/rethinking-money-by-bernard-lietaer-and-jacqui-dunnene points out that there is a way, in fact a thousand ways, to stop our current juggernaut towards global self-destruction. There is a system of solutions already in place in localities throughout the world where terrible problems have existed.  The changes came about, not through the redistribution of wealth, increased conventional taxation, bond measures or enlightened self-interest from corporate entities, but rather, by people simply rethinking the concept of money.

www.lietaer.com/writings/books/rethinking-money-by-bernard-lietaer-and-jacqui-dunne

Local Money – What Difference Does It Make?

This pamphlet explains the practical differences between national and local money – how local currencies work, what they can do that national money can’t do, and why they are needed.

If you are lucky enough to have a local currency, find out why you should join it. If you don’t, you might be inspired to start one!

“Must-read pamphlet. I found it clear, concise, assertive, inspiring and timely. Miraculously, John Rogers has distilled everything you need to know on this subject into this very easily digested little tome.

Seriously impressive. I recommend it to Transition Initiatives and community groups anywhere that are looking at reasserting control over their local economy.”
                                                                                                                                                             Ben Brangwyn, Transition Network

Local money has been used for hundreds of years and throughout the world, yet very few of us understand what it’s all about. Recently, Bristol and Brixton launched their own ‘Pounds’, but why?

We all need money – to stay alive, to buy essential goods and services. But when jobs and money are in short supply it’s largely because 97% of national money is controlled by the private banking industry. They trade, gamble and invest money where they can earn the biggest profit. And when the banks are in trouble so are ordinary people.

By contrast, local currencies are owned by the community. They are designed to support local businesses, local jobs, local producers and services, local crafts and artists, community initiatives, charities, volunteers, etc. They create strong social networks and ensure that the community thrives even in a recession. By keeping the currency local, they protect it from speculators who will only invest if there is a profit to be had.

http://www.triarchypress.net/local-money.html

Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link

Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link

From an outmoded money system to a monetary ecosystem.

A Club of Rome report.

It is usually said there is no alternative to our current monetary system – while it is quite clear that it is ailing, obsolete and completely unsuitable for overcoming the current crisis in the Euro Zone. Like any other monoculture it is at first profitable but in the long-term it unavoidably leads to economic and ecological disaster. The alternative is a “monetary ecosystem” with complementary currencies, which have already proven themselves many times in practice to be flexible, resilient, fair and sustainable.

“Limits to Growth”, the famous first report of the Club of Rome in 1972, showed how an economic system based on endless growth in a world of limited resources fundamentally undermines sustainability. This new report, published in 2012, analyzes our current monetary system and the errors in reasoning at its heart. The authors – Bernard Lietaer, Christian Arnsperger, Sally Goerner and Stefan Brunnhuber – describe the catastrophic ecological, socio-economic and financial problems that will continue to confront us if we make no radical changes. Finally, they list nine concrete measures that can immediately be implemented alongside the existing money system. This book is essential reading for politicians, business leaders, economists, bankers and anyone interested in the future of the planet.

Read the Executive Summary.

Read the Full Report.

Where Does Money Come From?

There is widespread misunderstanding of how new money is created. Where Does Money Come From? examines the workings of the UK monetary system and concludes that the most useful description is that new money is created by commercial banks when they extend or create credit, either through making loans or buying existing assets. In creating credit, banks simultaneously create deposits in our bank accounts, which, to all intents and purposes, is money.

Many people would be surprised to learn that even among bankers, economists, and policymakers, there is no common understanding of how new money is created. This is a problem for two main reasons. First, in the absence of this understanding, attempts at banking reform are more likely to fail. Second, the creation of new money and the allocation of purchasing power are a vital economic function and highly profitable. This is therefore a matter of significant public interest and not an obscure technocratic debate. Greater clarity and transparency about this could improve both the democratic legitimacy of the banking system and our economic prospects.

More information and buying option for this book on the New Economics Foundation’s website.

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People Money – the Promise of Regional Currencies


“People Money – the Promise of Regional Currencies” 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’s also a complete guide to the process of developing and implementing a regional currency.

“People Money is the single most useful and empowering book I have encountered for those wanting to get involved in the complementary currency movement. Its diverse real-life examples and insightful ‘how-tos’, embedded in deep theoretical understanding, will surely make it essential reading for activists, policy-makers, and economists interested in localization and sustainability.”

                                                                                                                                       Charles Eisenstein, Author of Sacred Economics

The book, published in 2012, is a completely revised and updated edition of the 2003 German book “Regionalwährungen” by Margrit Kennedy and Bernard Lietaer, who invited local currency organizer/activist John Rogers to collaborate to create the first English edition.

Part One lays out the theory of regionalisation and makes the theoretical case for the introduction of complementary currencies at the regional level.

Part Two begins with the variety of reasons why people start local currency systems, introduces some key design principles for creating sustainable systems and then presents 16 profiles of leading systems based on interviews with organizers around the world. It also profiles support agencies in the field and finishes with some recommendations for action.

Order a paper copy of the book.

Download the full text.

Occupy Money

Occupy Money by Margrit Kennedy


“So that in future we are ALL winners.” This book is an easily understandable appeal for new money that is interest-free, just and stable. It argues for a new bottom-up movement putting pressure on politics and economics in order to finally create a monetary system that serves people and not profit.  Margrit Kennedy points out ways in which money may again become a publicly managed service for the benefit of the whole society instead of being a commodity that leads to pathological growth.

You can read extracts from the book here.

You can buy the book from New Society Publishers.

Debt: the first 5,000 Years

“Debt: The First 5,000 Years” by anthropologist David Graeber, published in 2011, explores the history of debt and its role in barter, marriage, friendship, slavery, law, religion, war and government. It draws on the history and anthropology of a number of civilizations, from the first known records of debt from Sumer in 3000 BC up to the present.

Graeber argues that the imprecise, informal, community-building indebtedness of “human economies” is only replaced by mathematically precise, firmly enforced debts, through the introduction of violence, usually state-sponsored violence in some form of military or police.

According to worldwide anthropological evidence, debt is probably the oldest means of trade, with cash and barter transactions being later developments. Debt has remained primary, with cash and barter usually limited to situations of low trust involving strangers or those not considered credit-worthy.

http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/debt/

Local Money – How To Make It Happen In Your Community

Local Money, Peter North, Transition Books, 2010

Peter North is an academic and activist who has been observing the local currency movement for well over 20 years and has published several studies on the topic.

‘Local Money’ is a portrait of local currency movements worldwide that shows the breadth of experimentation going on within local efforts to counteract the negative sides of globalization.

Starting with a brief survey of the ‘money we have’, the author describes the possibilities for changing money by design.

The second half of the book focusses on the first wave of local currencies inspired by the UK Transition Movement from 2008 onwards and the lessons to be learned.

The End of Money and the Future of Civilization

The End of Money and the Future of Civilization by Thomas Greco, 2009

Written in the wake of the global financial crash of 2008, this is an ambitious book with a grand title designed to get attention. Thomas Greco brings decades of accumulated knowledge and experience of money systems to his account of money, power and the alternatives to government fiat money.

The author begins his story by analysing global trends towards centralized power and the ‘contest for rulership’ between two opposing philosophies – elitist and egalitarian. Central banks are in league with an elite global ‘money power’ that manipulates financial systems in its own favour. Compound interest drives an ‘engine of destruction’ against the earth’s capacity to support life.

Greco calls for a separation of money and state then outlines his theory of an ‘evolution of money’ through three evolutionary steps from barter to commodity money to credit money and a final step to his proposed ideal stage of ‘credit clearing’, also known as ‘mutual credit’, in which commitments between traders are simply ‘cleared’ or accounted for in a central system.

The second half of the book describes in detail the practical challenges of getting credit clearing systems to function.

Greco ends with a passionate plea for readers and citizens to get involved in movements for change and to “embrace one another in familial love and without judgment, sharing what we have and supporting one another to realize our fullest potential.”

The Lost Science of Money

The Lost Science of Money, Stephen Zarlenga, American Monetary Institute, 2002

This is a polemical book which starts with the assumption of the philosopher Aristotle that “money…exists not by nature, but by law” and “it is in our power to change it and make it useless“.

The whole book is a monetary reform tract, which claims the ‘money power’ that exists in the populace has been constantly usurped by rulers and bankers to their own benefit and that we can take back that power. It assumes that there is a lost ‘science of money’ that can be rediscovered. This ‘science’ is the idea that government has it in its power to create the money it needs without recourse to banks and bankers.

While developing these arguments, the author takes us on a whistlestop tour of monetary and banking history with chapters on the decline of Rome, financing the Crusades, usury and the Scholastics, the rise of mercantile power in Europe, the birth of the Bank of England, the story of Colonial money in early America, the birth of the Federal Reserve and much more.