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27 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis website

28 Banco Central do Brasil website

29 Daily Telegraph, 20 October 2014

30 Why Barter appeals economics barter theory can be modeled, with money emerging spontaneously as an equilibrium state; politics barter theory excludes the state from money, emphasizes role of market; ideology barter theory preserves a sense of money s value (and scarcity) as paramount (and thereby supports Austrian economics, sound money, etc.); populism barter theory suggests that money is a commodity or thing ; intuition barter theory is very easy to understand.

31 Money as tribute/payment Geld (money) derives from gild, (tax), and resonates with the old Icelandic gjald (recompense, punishment, payment) and the old English gield (substitute, indemnity, sacrifice) earliest forms of money were associated with violence and religious sacrifice, e.g. in Eshunna, around 1930BC, fines included 30 shekels of silver for destroying a person s tooth and ear, 60 for a nose and eye, and 40 shekels for severing a finger Hudson: money originated in various forms of sacrificial payment, debts, fines, tributes to religious and political authorities, etc. so contra Menger, money was never payment between equals

32 Money as primordial debt Bernhard Laum, Heiliges Geld (1924): money originated in sacrificial practices that can be traced to Greek antiquity; precise rules laid down governing quality of animals deemed suitable as sacrificial payment to the gods: value was measured by the ox unit Foucault, Lectures on the Will to Know (1970-1): for the Greeks, money did not emerge in the abstract sky of the commodity and its representation, but in the game of sacrifice and its simulacra Seaford, Money and the Early Greek Mind (2004): connections between coinage and sacrificial objects, e.g. iron spits - obol (obolos) ancient Greek coin of low value took its name from the spit (obelos), and drachma originally meant handful of spits

33 Why tribute theory appeals better supported by historical evidence than barter theory naturalizes the idea that the state is the guardian of money (chartalism) sustains the notion of money as debt connects money and society (as a stand-in for God, ruler, etc.) i.e. money originated as a debt to the gods => this debt evolved as a debt to rulers and states => these are surrogates for the idea of society explains money s obligatory character resonates with various arguments about money, religion and violence

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37 Debt as a moral problem? rising personal and national debt in surveys, debt increasingly cited as a quality of life concern debt associated with self-harm debt-free existence idealised national debt frequently seen as an index of moral rank (Greece) in the Eurozone, growing literature connecting debt and ill health, including suicide

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39 Georg Simmel Money is a claim upon society. The Philosophy of Money (1907)

40 Homogenization of money monetary unions, dollarization, money-like financial instruments (e.g. derivatives), place-less money Diversification of money local currencies, Time Dollars, LETS, loyalty schemes, digital monies

41 Money in Classical Social Thought Marx money is the universal agent of separation Weber money is as the most abstract and impersonal element that exists in human life Nietzsche - the educated classes are being swept along by a hugely contemptible money economy Simmel - The money economy enforces the necessity of continuous mathematical operations in our daily transactions

42 However Marx - money is the bond of all bonds Simmel money is a branch from the same root that produces all the other flowers of our culture

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47 Utopia as the absence of money More the end of money means the end of fraud, theft, burglary, brawls, riots, disputes, rebellion, murder, treason, and black magic ; even poverty itself would promptly disappear if money ceased to exist Plato Our society must have neither gold nor silver, nor yet much making of profits from mechanical crafts, or usury, or raising of sordid beasts Proudhon - Let all merchandise become current money and abolish the royalty of gold.

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53 Polanyi General purpose money performs all monetary functions and in all contexts Special purpose money performs limited range of monetary functions in limited range of contexts

54 Time dollars Spice time credit Bristol pounds Zopa Bitcoin M-Pesa

55 The social life of money universal commodity form (Marx), abstract social form (Simmel), diffuse social medium (Zelizer), social technology (Ingham), instrument of collective memory (Hart), generalized symbolic medium (Parsons), social process of commensuration (Maurer) communal illusion (Karatani)

56 Money is a process, not a thing Where its value comes from Circulation & exchange Acceptance Anyone can create money the problem is getting it accepted. (Hyman P. Minsky) Need (why use money x versus money y?) How it gets used Cash, plastic, wave and pay, microchip, etc. Design, appeal, symbolism Social experience (hug and pay?)

57 Local currency debates Economics multiplier effects, local business boost, etc. but problems of measurement, users are already committed to local economy, etc. Sociology symbolic value of local currency, marketing tool, enhances local identity, etc. General issues how to measure impact, how to incentivize users, how to prevent hoarding

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