Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Research about Swapping Economy

Research Findings:
1.  An alternative currency (or private currency) is any currency used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems.
2.  A local exchange trading system (also local employment and trading system or local energy transfer system; abbreviated to LETS or LETSystem) is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that provides a community information service and records transactions of members exchanging goods and services by using the currency of locally created LETS Credits
3.  A complementary currency is used to supplement to a national currency.
4.  complementary currencies aim to protect, stimulate or orientate the economy.
5.  Mutual credit is a type of alternative currency in which the currency used in a transaction can be created at the time of the transaction.
6.  An IOU (abbreviated from the phrase "I owe you")[1][2] is usually an informal document acknowledging debt.
7.  In some cases, IOUs may be redeemable for a specific product or service rather than a quantity of currency,[3] constituting a form of scrip.
8.  Scrip (sometimes in India called chit) is a term for any substitute for legal tender and is often a form of credit.
9.  Monetary economics is a branch of economics that provides a framework for analyzing money in its functions as a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account.
10.  The availability of interest-free loans is a great advantage to members of the system.
11.  In finance, unsecured debt refers to any type of debt or general obligation that is not protected by a guarantor, or collateralized by a lien on specific assets of the borrower in the case of a bankruptcy or liquidation or failure to meet the terms for repayment.
12.  it is usually (but does not need to be) a local currency, and it can have a demurrage fee for the holding of balances.
14.  Barter is part of Sharing Economy
15.  Anarchism is a political philosophy that advocates self-governed societies with voluntary institutions.
16.  While there are reports that the system is growing, in 2011 the system handles only a tiny fraction of international world commercial activity
17.  A report in Time Magazine suggested that alternative forms of money are "growing in popularity" in places such as South Africa and elsewhere
18.  One estimate suggested that the total value of local exchange trading systems trades worldwide was one billion South African rands in 2004.
19.  A mutual savings bank is a financial institution chartered by a central or regional government, without capital stock, that is owned by its members who subscribe to a common fund.
20.  Mutualism is based on a labor theory of value that holds that when labor or its product is sold, in exchange, it ought to receive goods or services embodying "the amount of labor necessary to produce an article of exactly similar and equal utility"
31.  Exchange Economy is a part of Sharing Economy
32.  Economists since Adam Smith, looking at archaic societies, have used the inefficiency of barter to explain the emergence of money, the economy, and hence the discipline of economics itself.
33.  In economics, the invisible hand is a metaphor used by Adam Smith to describe unintended social benefits resulting from individual actions.
34.  The exact phrase is used just three times in Smith's writings, but has come to capture his notion that individuals' efforts to pursue their own interest may frequently benefit society more than if their actions were directly intending to benefit society.
35.  The idea of trade and market exchange automatically channeling self-interest toward socially desirable ends is a central justification for the laissez-faire economic philosophy, which lies behind neoclassical economics.
36.  Specialization depended on trade, but was hindered by the "double coincidence of wants" which barter requires, i.e., for the exchange to occur, each participant must want what the other has.
37.  Money, as a universally desired medium of exchange, allows each half of the transaction to be separated.
38.  For barter to occur between two parties, both parties need to have what the other wants.
39.  In a monetary economy, money plays the role of a measure of value of all goods, so their values can be assessed against each other; this role may be absent in a barter economy.
40.  If a person wants to buy a certain amount of another's goods, but only has for payment one indivisible unit of another good which is worth more than what the person wants to obtain, a barter transaction cannot occur.
41.  Direct barter doesn't require payment in money (when money is in short supply) hence will be utilized when there is little information about the credit worthiness of trade partners or there is a lack of trust.
42.  An anthropologist is a person with an extensive knowledge of anthropology who uses this knowledge in their work, typically to solve problems specific to humanity.
43.  Anthropology is the study of humanity.
44.  The exchange plays an important role because they provide the record-keeping, brokering expertise and monthly statements to each member. Commercial exchanges make money by charging a commission on each transaction either all on the buy side, all on the sell side, or a combination of both. Transaction fees typically run between 8 and 15%.
45.  There are two industry groups in the United States, the National Association of Trade Exchanges (NATE) and the International Reciprocal Trade Association (IRTA). Both offer training and promote high ethical standards among their members. Moreover, each has created its own currency through which its member barter companies can trade. NATE's currency is the known as the BANC and IRTA's currency is called Universal Currency (UC)
46.   However the IRS now requires barter exchanges to be reported as per the Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act of 1982.
47.   While most time-based exchange systems are service exchanges in that most exchange involves the provision of services that can be measured in a time unit, it is also possible to exchange goods by 'pricing' them in terms of the average national hourly wage rate
48.   Time Dollars are a tax-exempt complementary currency[7] used as a means of providing mutual credit in Time Banking.
49.   Time Bank members exchange services for Time Dollars.
50.  This "one-for-one" system that relies on an abundant resource is designed to both recognize and encourage reciprocal community service, resist inflation, avoid hoarding, enable trade, and encourage cooperation among participants.
51.  Time banking is a pattern of reciprocal service exchange that uses units of time as currency.
52.  A time bank, also known as a service exchange, is a community that practices time banking.
53.  Time banking is primarily used to provide incentives and rewards for work such as mentoring children, caring for the elderly, being neighborly—work usually done on a volunteer basis—which a pure market system devalues.
54.  As well as gaining credits, participating individuals, particularly those more used to being recipients in other parts of their lives, can potentially gain confidence, social contact and skills through giving to others.
55.  Time Banking is a community development tool and works by facilitating the exchange of skills and experience within a community.
56.  According to Edgar S. Cahn, time banking had its roots in a time when "money for social programs [had] dried up"[27] and no dominant approach to social service in the U.S. was coming up with creative ways to solve the problem.
57.  Americans face at least three interlocking sets of problems: growing inequality in access by those at the bottom to the most basic goods and services; increasing social problems stemming from the need to rebuild family, neighborhood and community; and a growing disillusion with public programs designed to address these problems
58.  one of the major failings of many social service organizations was their unwillingness to enroll the help of those people they were trying to help.
59.  He theorized that a system like time banking could "[rebuild] the infrastructure of trust and caring that can strengthen families and communities."[29] He hoped that the system "would enable individuals and communities to become more self-sufficient, to insulate themselves from the vagaries of politics and to tap the capacity of individuals who were in effect being relegated to the scrap heap and dismissed as freeloaders.
60.  Time Bank members earn credit in Time Dollars for each hour they spend helping other members of the community.
61.  Services offered by members in Time Banks include: Child Care, Legal Assistance, Language Lessons, Home Repair, and Respite Care for caregivers, among other things.
62.  Some Time Banks employ a paid coordinator to keep track of transactions and to match requests for services with those who can provide them
63.  It is precisely the non-commercial, not-for-profit, noncontractual, and non-monetary value of time dollars which exempts them from taxation in the United States; were they to be used as a substitute for money, they would simply be another form of exchange.
64.  there is no guarantee that every person's needs will be provided for by a Time Bank by dint of the fact that the supply of certain skills may be lacking in a community.
65.  Trade exists due to the specialization and division of labor, in which most people concentrate on a small aspect of production, trading for other products.
66.  Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects.
67.  A flea market (or swap meet) is a type of bazaar that rents space to people who want to sell or barter merchandise. Used goods, low quality items, and high quality items such as collectibles and antiques are commonly sold.
68.  Fractional ownership is a method in which several unrelated parties can share in, and mitigate the risk of, ownership of a high-value tangible asset, usually a jet, yacht or piece of resort real estate.
69.  Peer-to-peer renting refers to the process of an individual renting an owned good, service, or property to another individual.

One downside of mutual credit, 
as with any form of credit, especially if it is run with unsecured debt, is the possibility of people exploiting the system by running up a large negative balance and not repaying it.

Solutions:
1. This problem can be addressed by caps on negative balance that can be raised as balances are paid off.
2. The problem can also be addressed by a using a well-worded membership agreement with clauses that specify members remain fully liable for all negative balances and reasonable time limits for calling in stagnant negative balances.
3.  Another solution is limiting the system to a small, close-knit community based on trust, where the community holds people accountable. Perhaps for this reason,[citation needed] most mutual credit systems are small, under 2000 members

Free Market:


Topics:
Barter
Gift Economy
LETS, Mutual Credit
Time Banking
Complementary Currency
CES
Mutulism

Currencies:
IOU
Mutual Credit
Alternative Currency

Theories:
Labor Theory of Value
Equity Theory

Copying:
From Senior Care to Pet Care

People:
Adam Smith (16 June 1723 NS (5 June 1723 OS) – 17 July 1790) was a Scottish moral philosopher, pioneer of political economy, and a key figure in the Scottish Enlightenment.

Examples:
Cincinnati Time Store
Echo business trading network (Economy of Hours)
International Monetary Systems

Books:
Wealth of Nations

References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_currency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_currency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_credit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutualism_(economic_theory)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_savings_bank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time-based_currency
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trade
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_swapping



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