I have a contract to produce a book about growing a new economy, in communities, with mutual credit at the core. This article is a listing of key resources: video interviews I’ve done with relevant people whilst researching the book, plus articles and websites providing additional information.
NB: Here’s a list of chapters that are kept up to date with more recent interviews, articles and sources of useful information.
Key links
Chelsea Green: publishers; employee-owned company, and therefore part of the new economy described in the book.
Mutual credit: introduction to mutual credit – the core of the book.
Credit Commons: protocol for networking local mutual credit schemes, and then networking networks up to the global level.
Mutual Credit Services: new organisation developed to support local mutual credit groups, and help them network; new website coming soon.
New economy: introduction to the kind of new economy outlined in the book.
LowimpactTV: YouTube channel where all new videos will be uploaded.
Book information
Provisional title: Edgeonomics: Building the new economy from the outside in
Publication date: January 2022
Provisional back cover notes:
Money has two main functions – it can be used to buy and sell things, and it can be used to store, hoard, accumulate and become wealthy with. As long as that’s the case, money will gravitate towards stored wealth, because money attracts money and gives access to the political system. This continues until so much money is concentrated, and so little is circulating that the economy crashes – as it has many times – and will continue to do so until those two functions are separated. During crashes, communities are devastated and ordinary people suffer. During booms, nature is destroyed. So there’s never a ‘good’ part of the boom and bust business cycle. Groups of people are building the infrastructure and the technology to separate the exchange and store of wealth functions of money. A new, decentralised economy can be built around it from the edges, in communities, and it can be federated to the global level. It will work if we use it. This book is to persuade you to use it. The core of it is a 19th century idea called mutual credit, whose time has come, now that we have the internet; the ability to federate: a growing awareness of what’s happening to nature; and a Covid-induced economic slump.
Core videos
Dil Green on mutual credit clubs. Transcript
Matthew Slater on federating mutual credit clubs to build the Credit Commons. Transcript
Chris Cook on storing value in a mutual credit world. Transcript
Contents (with videos and info. in relevant chapters)
Part 1: Why? (philosophy). The need for a new economy with mutual credit at the core
Chapter 1 – Money: what it is, where it comes from, its origins and history
Brett Scott on the future of money. Transcript
Brett Scott: Altered States of Monetary Consciousness – Brett’s excellent explanations of how the money system works. Plus he’s working on ‘unboxing’ attempts to create new kinds of monetary systems.
Tim Jenkin: What is money and do we really need it?
Positive Money: series of videos on how money is created.
Bank of England: confirming where money comes from.
Chapter 2 – Trouble: problems caused by the money system
Julia Steinberger on ecological destruction. Transcript
Brian Czech on why ‘green growth’ is an oxymoron. Transcript
Deep Adaptation Forum: how to adapt to the coming ecological collapse.
Prof. Jem Bendell has compiled a list of the types of responses to the the idea of the coming ecological crash.
Part 2: How? (principles). Imagining the new economy
Chapter 3 – Decentralisation: centralised vs decentralised approaches, including MMT, Diem and crypto
Matthew Slater: on Facebook’s proposed LibraCoin (now Diem).
Matthew Slater: on the electricity requirements of Bitcoin.
Chapter 4 – Mutuality: how mutual credit works, benefits, history, LETS, existing mutual credit networks
Tim Jenkin, Dil Green, Matthew Slater on building an alternative to the current money system. Transcript
Tom Greco on why the future of money is mutual credit not Bitcoin. Transcript
Dil Green: the Money & Society MOOC and my subsequent adventures in mutual credit.
Mercedes Bidart on mutual credit in Colombia. Transcript
Laurence Anderson on mutual credit in Australia. Transcript
Matthew Slater: the Mutual Credit Society.
Sardex: mutual credit network trading 50 million euros worth of trade annually in Sardinia.
Sue Bell of Mutual Credit Services: What happened to LETS systems? Transcript
Chapter 5 – No ideology: why the left vs. right battle is outdated
Dave Darby: the roots of right and left thinking.
Dave Darby: do you consider yourself left-wing or right-wing, and does it matter any more?
Part 3: What? (practice). Building the new economy
Chapter 6 – Clubs: setting up and running clubs, trade credits, taxes, storing value
See Dil Green and Chris Cook ‘core videos’ above.
Dil Green: 2 Planks – and a Bridge – to the new economy.
Chris Cook: Energising Scotland – introducing the Eco.
Chris Cook: Caring for Scotland.
Chapter 7 – Variety: different flavours of mutual credit, plus Ripple, Grassroots Economics, Open Money
Trustlines Network: using Ripple.
Grassroots Economics: similar to mutual credit, in Kenya.
Open Money: from Michael Linton, inventor of LETS
Chapter 8 – Community: building networks of trust & resilience, what communities could be like, community wealth building, prices
Micky Metts on networking small businesses and co-ops to replace corporations. Transcript
Frances Northrop on the Preston Model of community development. Transcript
Dave Darby: what post-covid communities could look like, if enough of us want it.
Chris Cook: The Community is the Currency.
Chapter 9 – Federation: the Credit Commons, coping with different national currencies, benefits
Credit Commons: protocol for recursive mutual credit accounting.
See Matthew Slater’s ‘core video’ above.
Chapter 10 – Transcendence: transcending rather than reforming or overthrowing, the cracks in capitalism, if banks and states fight back, call to action
Dil Green: the Transcender Manifesto.
NB: Here’s a list of chapters that are kept up to date with more recent interviews, articles and sources of useful information.
About the author: Dave Darby lived at Redfield community from 1996 to 2009. Working on development projects in Romania, he realised they saw Western countries as role models, so decided to try to bring about change in the UK instead. He founded Lowimpact.org in 2001, spent 3 years on the board of the Ecological Land Co-op and was a founder of NonCorporate.org and the Open Credit Network.
1 Comment
Dave, that’s a really interesting and informative collection of vides. Thank you.