https://reasonstobecheerful.world/towns-invent-community-currencies/
"In 1932 the small Austrian town of Wörgl was buckling under the weight of the
Great Depression, with crumbling infrastructure, rising unemployment and
ballooning debt. But within just a year, all that changed: Local unemployment
dropped by 25 percent despite rising by 19 percent in the rest of Austria and
tax revenue skyrocketed, fueling extensive municipal investment in road repair,
a new bridge and even a ski jump — a transformation that is still referred to
today as “the Miracle of Wörgl.”
Unsurprisingly, the miracle was made possible by money, but not the schillings
issued by the government. Instead, the town started circulating its own
currency — called “labor certificates” to avoid the scrutiny of the central
bank — in the summer of 1932. The certificates could be used in local
businesses, as well as for the payment of taxes, rent and utility fees.
Designed to depreciate one percent per month to incentivize spending, the money
circulated as much as 12 times faster than the conventional currency according
to some estimates, creating far more value and employment in the process. In
the summer of 1933 the town’s mayor, Michael Unterguggenberger, presented his
scheme to a gathering of 170 other local mayors interested in replicating it.
In response, the central bank promptly outlawed the currency. But Wörgl had
already cemented its place in economic history.
Community currencies — alternative forms of money sometimes also referred to as
local or regional currencies — are as diverse as the communities they serve,
from grassroots time-banking and mutual credit schemes to blockchain-based
Community Inclusion Currencies.
In Wörgl, Unterguggenberger based his currency on the writings of German
economic thinker Silvio Gesell, which also inspired other community currencies
across the U.S., Canada and Europe during the Great Depression. According to
one estimate, 118 local governments, 80 business groups and around 70 self-help
organizations issued their own currencies in the U.S. alone, and in 1934 a
group of Swiss entrepreneurs launched the WIR, which is now the biggest and
longest-running local currency worldwide: In 2009 it included 68,000 member
businesses and had an annual turnover equivalent to 1.6 billion Swiss Francs."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
