Funny Money: In Search of Alternative Cash

Description

Until recently, the growth of alternative cash had been the province of big business: phone cards, stamps, air miles and Tesco's clubcard points all have purchasing power, yet are not cash as we know it. Now, locally created money systems like "time dollars", "Womanshare" and "Ithaca hours" are being invented by communities for communities. Boyle tells the story of this extraordinary revolution: he travels to the USA to visit the people behind local money systems; relates their vision of the future; and describes how to set up your own currency.

David Boyle has been writing about the past and the future, and new ideas in economics, for more than a quarter of a century. He is a fellow of the New Economics Foundation and has just completed an independent review for the Cabinet Office. He is the author of The Tyranny of Numbers, The Human Element and Authenticity: Brands, Fakes, Spin and the Lust for Real Life. He lives in London.

'An inspirational book, crammed with ideas' TES