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

than dollars, you may prefer to go to the latter painter, even if his
nominal rate is a bit higher.
Ithaca's cinemas, for example, accept up to 100% in Ithaca HOURS
in the afternoon because the cost of projecting a movie is a fixed cost,
independent of how many people are present (i.e., the marginal cost
of one more viewer as long as seats are empty is, in fact, zero).
Over one thousand people use the complementary currency
regularly, and many pay rent or other services with it.
Finally, 9.5% of all Ithaca HOURS issued are being given to local
non- profit organisations who perform various tasks for the
community at large. So far, 19 different non-profits have benefited
from these donations.
Paul Glover summarises the benefits. 'Thousands of purchases and
many new friendships have been made with our own money, and
hundreds of thousands of local trading has been added to what we
call our Grass-roots National Product.' The big decisions concerning
the system as a whole (printing, denominations, manner of issue,
grants) are made during twice- monthly informal dinners, which acts
as the 'Ithaca Reserve Board'.
The system has been featured on national TV, first in Japan, and
more recently in the United States. The participants are happy with
the results, and the businesses have seen more locals stay around to
spend both their regular dollars and their Ithaca HOURS. Even the
people who don't like Paul I Glover's activist style or politics have
come to like his system. This system has also started spreading
around the country. Paul Glover sells a kit describing; how to set up
such a system for $25 or two and a half Ithaca HOURS. As of 1997,
there were 39 HOURS systems operational in the world.