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

national currencies); changes in key interest rates; or fixing reserve
requirements for the private banks. Ah these techniques really boil
down to changing the maximum quantity of 'hat' currency that the
private banks will be able to issue and at what cost.
Commodity-Backed Currency: A currency whose value is
guaranteed by the physical availability of the commodity which
backs the currency. The owner of a backed currency can normally ask
for delivery of the physical good or service in exchange for the
currency. Backed currency is typically issued by whoever owns the
product or service accepted as backing. (e.g. 19th-century gold
standard backed by gold; Time dollar backed by hours of community
service.)
Currency: Synonymous with money, but emphasising the medium
of exchange function of money.
Currency Boards: A monetary mechanism by which one national
currency is issued backed one-to-one by a reserve currency. In other
words, it is similar to a commodity-backed currency, but the backing
is someone else's national currency. Argentina, Hong Kong and other
countries have resorted to currency boards, where the backing is the
US dollar.
Demurrage charge: A time-related charge on outstanding balances
of a currency. Acts similarly to a negative interest rate, and was
designed as a disincentive to hoard the currency. Savings would then
occur in forms other than accumulation of the medium of exchange.
Silvio Gesell developed the theory that money is like a public service
(e.g. public transport), and therefore a charge is justified. Both John
Maynard Keynes and Irving Fisher provided theoretical foundation
for this approach, and it was last implemented in the form of 'stamp
scrip' in the 1930s.