Book: People Money – the Promise of Regional Currencies. By Margrit Kennedy and Bernard Lietaer with John Rogers. Triarchy Press, 2012
‘People Money’ is the first English edition of Margrit Kennedy’s and Bernard Lietaer’s 2004 German book ‘Regionalwährungen'(also published in French and Spanish).
The Introduction by John Rogers:
“The global financial crisis that began in 2007 is not the first. Researchers at the International Monetary Fund identified 124 systemic banking crises, 208 currency crises and 63 episodes of sovereign debt defaults between 1970 and 2010. And in the previous 300 years there were 48 major crashes. Listening to the daily news, it seems like crisis is normal and permanent. But the causes are systemic and systemic causes require systemic solutions.
In 2003, Margrit Kennedy and Bernard Lietaer discovered that they both wanted to write a book about the possibilities and advantages of creating regional currencies. They were happily surprised to learn that each of them already had very concrete ideas why the introduction of this type of money would make sense in the near future. They also found out that their experiences with local currencies and knowledge of historical examples were quite different and that it made sense to write this book together.
Margrit had already featured alternative money systems in her first book ‘Inflation and Interest Free Money’ in 1987; Bernard had introduced the term ‘complementary currencies’ in ‘The Future of Money’ in 1999 and was friends with historians of coinage, who had discovered many coins from the middle ages to the industrial revolution that acted as regional currencies on a large scale across Europe. On her travels in Europe and the Americas, Margrit had discovered many different local efforts to develop new ways of using money, like the Swedish JAK Bank, the Swiss WIR Bank, the Argentinian Credito and numerous Local Exchange Trading Systems, all of which showed that complementary currencies could be of enormous help to the people who use them.
Before Margrit and Bernard were able to finish the book, the word had spread in Germany about their plans to publish a book on this topic. Twenty-four initiators from various parts of Germany, who were thinking of implementing regional currencies, began to ask for more information on how to proceed. Neither Margrit nor Bernard knew exactly how to go about it, as neither of them had encountered an example of a regional currency that met all their criteria, so they organized a meeting of all those interested in creating regional currencies to discuss the various options. There was a lively exchange of experiences and expectations at this first meeting, which inspired everyone to set up the Regiogeld e.V (Regional Money Association p.XX), representing regional money systems across Germany.
The resulting book was published in 2004 by Riemann, Munich , and became something of a handbook for the first German models. It was later translated into French and Spanish .
John Rogers was invited to update and edit the original book for this first English edition.
Part One: The Case for Regional Currencies contains the essence of the original book and Part Two: Regional Currencies in Practice features portraits of local systems around the world, selected from interviews with 40 organisers and promoters, reflecting the great variety of current practice. This evidence gives a new impulse and credibility to the concept and helps those who feel compelled to follow in the footsteps of the first initiators to learn from their often challenging experiences.
All three authors wish to salute the courage, ingenuity and perseverance of those local currency pioneers who have shown the way. In particular, thanks to all of the local organisers and support agencies who gave generously of their time to do interviews and correct mistakes in the text for this book. Apologies for any mistakes that remain and if we have overlooked anyone who should have been included. Tell us who you are and we will include you in the next edition.
A personal thank you from Margrit and Bernard to our life partners who support our work: Declan Kennedy and Jacqui Dunne, who by chance were born in the same hospital in Dublin, and whose Irish humour and wonderful ability to tell stories continue to inspire us to fill our visions with life and our life with visions. John would like to dedicate the book to the memory of Eluned, who insisted he get started with local currencies, and to Sitara who cheerfully puts up with his obsession.
Up to now, most regional currencies have been initiated by citizens and businesses. Regional and city governments are starting to join them as they search for innovative solutions to the range and scale of problems facing them. We hope that this book will provide enough information and inspiration to local governments, businesses and citizens to try out bold new experiments that put regional currencies back on the map for a long time to come.”