Recommended literature

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Money is a vast topic. If you wish to dive deeper into the various questions surrounding the creation of money and redistribution of wealth and into reflections from both theory and practice, the MONNETA editorial team recommends:

“Money – The Unauthorized Biography–From Coinage to Cryptocurrencies” by economist and asset manager Felix Martin answers the questions: what is money, and how does it work?The author challenges our conventional understanding of one of humankind’s greatest inventions. Martin describes how the Western idea of money emerged in the ancient world, and was shaped over the […]

“The Map” describes how to make the rich underused capacity of regional economies more visible. It shows how to engage individuals, businesses, voluntary groups and local government to share their underused assets to meet each others’ needs. The Map is both a vision and a practical action programme. Self-published pamphlet by local currency organizer/activist John […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]

“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 […]

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 […]