The Monetary System to Improve Social Well-being | 增進人類福祉的貨幣系統
Human economic behavior is mainly determined by the monetary system in which people live, not the other way around.
This is to advocate that in the era when digital/virtual currency systems are budding, a group is thinking about what kind of currency system can enhance human well-being, rather than just serving as a basis for the flow or distribution of resources. This organization is called Happonomy, and the new currency they are discussing The system is called SuMSy.
Introduction to Happonomy:
Happonomy is a group of young or experienced entrepreneurs, value-driven experts, managers of large companies, creatives or scientists who all believe that sustainable change is necessary and possible and that our economy can help.
We provide solutions that help you: Live a sustainably happy life; enable entrepreneurs to work sustainably; help existing organizations put people and planet first; enable cities to thrive and change in a sustainable way .
Our goal is clear: improve the quality of life for you and future generations.
We live in a world of growing insecurity and inequality, where technology often passes us by. We strive to color within the limits of the earth’s capacity, and we search deeper and deeper for meaning. In fact, our current economic model is increasingly detrimental to our quality of life. The good news is that by raising awareness of what we value and the sustainable economic solutions that come with it, together we can build a world centered on quality of life.
The SuMSy-Sustainable Money System they discussed is to reform the current economic structure by redesigning the currency system. The entire project plan:
https://www.happonomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Sustainable-Money-System-overview.pdf
Several of these views have a great impact on the current economic structure, but they are also worthy of discussion:
- Guaranteed Income (GI) — Guaranteed Income is a concept related to Universal Basic Income (UBI). A guaranteed income differs from a UBI in that the amount must be high enough to lead a minimum quality of life, which is not necessarily the case with a UBI. This means that the recipient must be able to afford all basic needs (decent housing, food, clothing, energy, drinking water…) and be able to live a humane life (such as buying basic hygiene products, attending school, etc.).
- Demurrage — Expressed as a percentage, demurrage is the (negative) interest charged on a financial account. Demurrage is calculated and deducted from the account balance before guaranteed income is added. Note that demurrage effectively reduces default income (= GI — demurrage). Accounts holding large balances. This eliminates the “Matthew Effect” of “the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer” that is common in financial stimulus measures.
- Funding Public Services — Public services as “risk/insurance”, public services can be seen as something that society “underwrites”. Funding allocations for these services are then handled in the same manner as ensuring risk. A certain percentage or fixed amount is available for these services and is debited from people’s accounts when they pay for the services.
In the previous article, Buddhist Economics also mentioned that four tools for nourishing the body, including clothing, food, shelter, and medicine, are considered necessities. Some Buddhist economists believe that in today’s world, there are eight kinds of necessities for people: in addition to the four necessities In addition to tools, it also includes clean air, clean water, etc.
To some extent, it is similar to the GI advocated by SuMSy, that is, the economic system should aim to provide all human beings with basic life security, rather than sacrificing basic well-being for development.
In addition, it is also mentioned in the article on Islamic Finance that God has gifted human wisdom to create property and financial systems that are easy to circulate in order to facilitate the development of society and civilization, such as using remaining wealth to invest, start new enterprises, develop land for farming, and develop production. , improve living conditions, and train in new technologies. Islam prohibits being a miser, burying wealth, stagnating its flow, and not using it for the cause of Allah, which is not beneficial to society. Apart from the element of faith, the views on finance are also very advanced. The purpose of the financial system is to facilitate accommodation, but why? For the development of civilization, all projects that can increase production and enhance human life and well-being are promoted, rather than those used for hoarding, Speculative, socially unhelpful projects.
This is consistent with the idea of introducing demurrage into the monetary system. The behavior of bringing more money through hoarding, investment or projects that are no different to society cannot bring welfare to society and should not be encouraged. Therefore, this must be considered when designing financial/monetary systems.
Happonomy have made a small board game in SuMSy, and observed the following phenomenon:
In a post-playtest of the board game, it was played by a group of players actively working to build a circular economy and reduce their footprint. They played a few rounds of the game using the standard money system and generated so much in-game contamination that they couldn’t “survive” to the end of the game, even if given time to play the full game. Later they were actually shocked by their behavior in the game because it completely went against their personal value system.
As an old proverb says — first you build your house, then you shape your life.
Human beings are extremely adaptable creatures, and they will grow up in whatever environment they are given. The problems in today’s society are most likely due to our existing economic structure and system — which rewards hoarding, speculation, exploitation, and competition. Projects that do nothing to enhance human welfare but are beneficial to accumulating money.
Perhaps as the new monetary system sprouts, we should all think about what kind of society we want. Or maybe the world is full of holes and tatters, but some people always choose to repair it.
人類的經濟行為主要是由人們所處的貨幣體系決定的，而不是相反。
在數位/虛擬貨幣系統萌芽的時代，有群正在思索怎樣的貨幣系統可以增進人類福祉，而非只是做為資源流動或分配的依據，而這個組織叫做 Happonomy，他們所探討的新貨幣系統則稱為 SuMSy。
Happonomy 的簡介 :
Happonomy 是一群年輕或經驗豐富的企業家、價值驅動的專家、大公司的經理、創意人士或科學家，我們都相信可持續的變革是必要的和可能的，我們的經濟可以提供幫助。
我們提供的解決方案可協助您： 過著永續的幸福生活；使企業家能夠可持續地工作；幫助現有組織將人類和地球放在第一位；使城市以可持續的方式繁榮和變化。
我們的目標很明確：提高您和子孫後代的生活品質。
我們生活在一個不安全和不平等日益加劇的世界，科技常常與我們擦肩而過。我們努力在地球的承受能力範圍內著色，並且我們越來越深入地尋找意義。事實上，我們目前的經濟模式越來越不利於我們的生活品質。好消息是，透過提高對我們認為有價值的東西以及隨之而來的可持續經濟解決方案的認識，我們可以共同建立一個以生活品質為中心的世界。
而他們所探討的 SuMSy — Sustainable Money System則是透過重新設計貨幣系統來改革現行的經濟架構，整個專案計畫書 :
https://www.happonomy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Sustainable-Money-System-overview.pdf
其中有幾個觀點對現行的經濟架構有很大的衝擊，但也很值得探討 :
- 保證收入（GI） — 保證收入是與全民基本收入（UBI）相關的概念。 保證收入與全民基本收入不同，因為金額必須夠高才能過最低品質的生活，而全民基本收入則不一定如此。這意味著接收者必須能夠承擔所有基本需求（體面的住房、食物、衣服、能源、飲用水…）並且能夠過著人道的生活（例如購買基本衛生用品、上學等）。
- 滯期費 — 滯期費以百分比表示，是對金融帳戶收取的（負）利息。滯期費是在添加保證收入之前從帳戶餘額中計算並扣除的。請注意，滯期費有效地減少了違約收入（= GI — 滯期費）。持有大量餘額的帳戶。這就消除了金融刺激措施中常見的「富者愈富、窮者愈窮」的「馬太效應」。
- 資助公共服務 — 公共服務作為“風險/保險”，公共服務可以被視為社會「承保」的東西。然後，以與確保風險相同的方式處理這些服務的資金分配。一定比例或固定金額可用於這些服務，並在支付服務費用時從人們的帳戶中扣除。
之前的文章佛教經濟學中也提到過衣、食、住、藥等四種滋養肉身的工具,被認為是必需品， 有佛教經濟學者認為在今日世界，人們的必需品有八種:除了四資具外，還包括乾淨的空氣、潔淨的水等等。
某種程度與SuMSy提倡的GI相似，也就是經濟制度應該是以提供全體人類基本生活無虞為目標，而非為了發展犧牲了基礎福祉。
另外在伊斯蘭金融一文中也提到，真主恩賜人類的智慧﹐創造財產和金融制度﹐容易流通﹐是為了方便社會和文明發展﹐例如用剩餘的財富投資﹑開辦新企業﹑開發土地耕種和發展生產﹐改善生活條件﹐培訓新技術。 伊斯蘭禁止守財奴﹐把財富埋藏起來﹐流動停滯﹐不用於主道﹐對社會無益。撇除信仰成分，這其中對於金融的觀點也十分先進，金融制度是為了融通，為什麼而融通呢? 為了文明發展，舉凡能夠提高生產、增進人類生活與福祉的項目，而非那些用於囤積、投機、對社會無益的項目。
這恰好與貨幣系統中導入滯期費的想法一致，透過囤積、投資或是對社會無異的項目而帶來更多貨幣的行為，並無法對社會帶來福祉，也不應被鼓勵，因此在設計金融/貨幣系統就必須考慮這點。
在SuMSy中有做過一個小型桌遊，其中觀察到現象 :
在棋盤遊戲的後期遊戲測試中，一群積極致力於建立循環經濟和減少足跡的玩家玩了這款遊戲。他們使用標準金錢系統玩了幾輪遊戲，並產生了如此多的遊戲內污染，以至於他們無法「生存」到遊戲結束，即使有時間玩完整遊戲。後來他們實際上對自己在遊戲中的行為感到震驚，因為這完全違背了他們的個人價值體系。
就如同一句老諺語說過 — 先蓋好了房子，然後型塑了生活。
人類是一種適應力極強的生物，有什麼樣的環境就成長為那個樣子，如今社會的問題，極可能是源自於我們現有的經濟架構與系統 — 獎勵囤積、投機、剝削、對增進人類福祉無益但對累積貨幣有益的項目。
或許在新貨幣制度萌芽的時候，我們都該思考我們想要怎樣的社會。又或許這個世界千瘡百孔，破破爛爛， 但總有些人選擇修修補補。
