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

ecological city in the world' by the United Nations. Its mayor has
become a nationally recognised political hero.
5. A remarkably successful application of a specialised 'Healthcare
Currency' operating at the national level in Japan which provides an
innovative way to improve the quality of healthcare at no costs to the
government.
6. Tlaloc: a Mexican popular neighbourhood currency provides
another version of low-tech complementary currency. It operates
without individual users needing access to either a computer or even
a telephone.
7. Bia Kud Chum: the first South-East Asian community currency, a
remarkable synthesis which is the result of co-operative efforts from
Holland, Canada, Mexico and Japan.
This chapter concludes with two examples of hi-tech integrated
payment systems, enabling dual payments in both national currency
and complementary currency in one single transaction.
1. Time Dollar
Edgar S. Cahn, professor at the District of Columbia Law School,
developed his Time Dollar concept in 1986, initially for retirement
homes in Florida, a school district in Chicago and a social project in
Washington DC. Now it has spread into hundreds of applications.
One incentive is that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS, the US tax
authority) has ruled that Time Dollar transactions are tax-free.
The system has an elegant simplicity. Here is how it works. Joe
doesn't' have good eyesight and can't drive a car any more. But he
needs a special pair of new slippers from the other side of town. Julia
agrees to make the one-hour drive to get the slippers. Julia gets a