Communities, Currencies and Credit
Originally published 3 July 2013
In his presentation, Jonathan Warner, Professor of Economics at Quest University, Canada described some of the various currency and credit systems in operation at various intentional communities and towns. He starts by telling us that the word ‘credit’ comes from the Latin ‘credo’, which means ‘trust’; and that, so long as you have trust, the range of systems and their mechanics is limited only by our imagination.
Jonathan tells us that there are two basic reasons for establishing a local currency or credit system but there can be many other flow on benefits depending on the mechanics of the system and its particular aims. One reason is economic, to reduce dependency on the outside world and “build resilience in the face of economic shocks”. This occurs because the currency is only accepted by local providers so members of the community spend locally. The second reason is that it “builds social capital within the community – binding the community together in a web of community relationships and activities”.
Findhorn itself has a local currency, which they call the EKO. One of the locals tell us that one of the benefits of this is that the community organisation, the Findhorn Trust, can leave their money in the bank to earn interest while the community members circulate ‘monopoly money’. Apparently the Bank of England does not object provided the currency is not too significant and is locally based. Jonathan tells us that, in fact, this is why Scotland has its own currency. The Scottish government earns interest on its funds and circulates the Scottish Pound.
Afterwards, further questions arise in my mind. What is the purpose of currency? Is it to facilitate the flow of goods and services in the community, or is it to grow our assets relative to other communities? Are we building trust within our community simply so that we can grow the community assets relative to those of other communities or organisations?
To what end are we building trust?
