Each Monday we will post a relatively short piece, gradually building toward a comprehensive theory of the way that money “works” in sovereign countries. We will then collect comments through Wednesday night, and will post a response to the comments on Thursday. The comments should be directly related to that week’s blog. Since we are trying to develop an understanding of MMT, we especially encourage commentators to let us know where we have been unclear. Since we will be presenting the Primer over the course of the coming year, we will sometimes have to beg for patience—obviously we cannot present the entire theory all at once.

A couple of local activist geeks associated with CommonGoods.net are in the final stages of developing Kindista ("one who practices kindness") - a breakthrough alternative economics app which creates a virtual social networking space for gifting, sharing and lending of all kinds.

In Brazil, over 50 community banks have drastically reduced poverty by issuing their own paper and credit card currencies based on the Banco Palmas model. Palmas are issued into circulation to fund community and infrastructure development projects and as small business loans and personal loans, dispersed based on community reputation rather than capital or collateral. They are run by community-based organizations. Local businesses and nonprofits directly incubated from Palmas advance the lives of youth, women, the poor, and artists. Palmas type currencies now help many Brazilians meet most of their needs locally, and invigorate the local economy with a charge of currency and employment. Palmas have proven so successful in alleviating poverty that they are now supported by the Brazilian national government. Venezuela has been experimenting with the Palmas model and it is widely promoted by the Chavez government.

Still in use today, Argentina's grassroots currency initiative, called the Red de Trueque, emerged to provide a third of the country with a means of exchange for basic needs during its economic crash in 1999, when large banks frozen resident's accounts and fled the country with currency.

SILVA JARDIM, Brazil—After school and on weekends, Carlos
Leandro Peixoto de Abril sells ice cream made by his grandmother from a
stoop alongside the family's cinder-block home.

Instead of Brazilian reais, though, the 11-year-old prefers payment in
capivaris—a local currency emblazoned with the face of a giant rodent.
Bills in hand, Carlos then heads to a local grocer and buys ingredients,
at a special discount, for another batch of grandma's goods.

The capivari circulates only in this dusty, agricultural town 60 miles
north of Rio de Janeiro. The money is an effort by the town, one of the
poorest in southeastern Brazil, to encourage its 23,000 residents to
spend locally.

»What is value?
»What forms does it take?
»How and why do we produce, share, and exchange it?
»How is technological change affecting our answers to these questions?
»Where do opportunities exist to shape these trends and benefit from them?

If we want freedom and free markets, we cannot and should not
depend on one supplier of currency. That supplier, government through
its central bank, playing dictator, has abused, will abuse and cannot
help but abuse the power of issue. Its hidden and unstated goal, its
raison d’être, is favoritism and privilege for itself and its friends.

This video was created as part of Venessa Miemis' presentation
at the SIBOS Conference in Amsterdam, 25 October 2010. The interviews
were conducted with participants in America, England, Sweden, Mexico,
Germany and Thailand via video Skype calls from Berlin, Germany.

Currency and currents come from the same root, the Latin verb
Correre, meaning "to run." They are about movement and flow. When we
speak of currencies, we mean "the tools for catalyzing currents."

Currency should NOT be equated with money. Monetary currencies are a
small part of a much larger framework.

Flows of trust, reputation, knowledge, information, value, goods,
services, resources, gifts, admiration, and the experience of acceptance
or belonging are just some of the kinds of things that you can activate
with currencies.

Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer currency. Peer-to-peer means that no
central authority issues new money or tracks transactions. These tasks
are managed collectively by the network.

The most successful manifestation of mobile money has occurred
in Kenya, although the idea is being adapted in many other countries,
both rich and poor. In Kenya there are currently four cell phone
operators that provide mobile money services, but the market is
dominated by one carrier, Safaricom Ltd., which holds an 80% share of
the voice/SMS market. Safaricom’s mobile money product, M-PESA (M for
mobile, pesa for “money” in Kiswahili) commands an even larger share of
the mobile money market.

For every 15 minutes you spend helping another member, you earn
a Karma. You can then redeem all the Karma credits you've earned for
another member's volunteer service - as long as you have enough credits
to cover their service.

For a concise analysis of why we need complementary currencies
so badly, read the Open Money Manifesto. And whilst you're at it, do
re-read Margrit Kennedy's paper to Doors of Perception 8 in Delhi. That
one lecture (it was in Delhi in Spring 2005) was when most of the
readers of this blog, including its writer, first realised that the
money system was going to run off the rails in the major way that's
happening now.

by North, Peter

This database collects statistical information on complementary
currency systems and generates detailed reports on the state of these
systems. We encourage all complementary currency systems, of all types,
anywhere in the world, to record their information in this database, and
we welcome your comments to improve the database.

This module was designed for use by community groups such as
classic LETS schemes, barter circles, and Timebanks, but is also being
used more by a 'younger' generation of monetary reformists.

Fureai kippu (in Japanese:Caring Relationship Tickets) is a
Japanese community currency created in 1995 by the Sawayaka Welfare
Foundation so that people could earn credits helping seniors in their
community.

The basic unit of account is an hour of service to an elderly person.

We invite you to explore innovative interpretations of money,
economics and society which are resulting in a new way of thinking about
our future. You will find pieces of the puzzle on this web site to
understanding the next economy.

It is a work in progress, so it may not be clear and cohesive, but if
you are open to some new ideas, you will find both practical tools and
inspiring visions.

Please take two minutes read this page. Then share the questions that
emerge for you.

Paul Hartzog slideshare

Currency and currents come from the same root, the Latin verb
Correre, meaning "to run." They are about movement and flow. When we
speak of currencies, we mean "the tools for catalyzing currents."

Currency should NOT be equated with money. Monetary currencies are a
small part of a much larger framework.

Flows of trust, reputation, knowledge, information, value, goods,
services, resources, gifts, admiration, and the experience of acceptance
or belonging are just some of the kinds of things that you can activate
with currencies.

Threebles (from 3ble - Triple Bottom Line Economics) are a
currency which incorporates a triple-credit-rating so Social, Natural
and Financial Capital can all be included in the function of money.

community currency in Bellingham and Port Townsend