THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

currencies. Practice has demonstrated that such currencies build
community instead of destroying it
What kind of money could that be?
Some real life examples
The balance of this chapter will provide seven case studies. The first
three are US applications, the others are respectively from Brazil,
Japan, Mexico and Thailand. Each one depicts a very different
approach. You will learn something different from each, but you can
also get the core concept by choosing From among the seven only
those examples you find most intriguing.
1. Time Dollars, invented by a prominent Washington lawyer, and
applied now in several hundred communities in the US. Thirty
different states have recently started promoting this approach to
pragmatically solve local issues.
2. Ithaca HOURS, a paper currency launched by a community
activist in the small university town of Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is a
relatively low-income community of about 27,000 inhabitants. Similar
types of paper currency systems are now operational in 39 different
communities in the US.
3. The PEN Exchange, illustrating how a complementary paper
currency helped build community in Takoma Park, Maryland, a welloff
suburb of Washington DC.
4. Curitiba, a provincial capital of 2.3 million inhabitants in Brazil,
where a mayor used complementary currencies for 25 years,
propelling this Third World city to First World standards in less than
one generation. In 1992, Curitiba was awarded the title of 'the most