Amazon.co.uk Review
Following the gloomy prognostications of the future of the global economy in John Grey's False Dawn, it is refreshing to read Bernard Lietaer's upbeat account of The Future of Money. Lietaer made his name implementing the convergence mechanism for the European single currency, and was named the world's top currency trader in 1989. This suggests that he knows what he's talking about when he argues that "we are largely ignorant about our money system", concerning the nature and management of money. Lietaer argues that once we understand the shifting temperament and function of money, particularly in relation to the current revolution in information technology, we can harness it for a brighter future.
Lietaer begins by addressing what he sees as the four "megatrends" currently driving society--an "Age Wave", the growth of an increasingly aged population, the Information Revolution, Monetary Instability, and Climate Change. Lietaer argues that "all crises contain hidden opportunities", which leads him to his central thesis that "we are now engaged in a structural shift of the world system, and this shift offers an unprecedented opportunity to give birth to Sustainable Development". Much of the rest of the book deals with defining sustainable development, and offering practical scenarios for its implementation. Much of this seems vague and utopian, but along the way Lietaer offers a wonderfully lucid account of the philosophy of money, the liquidity of currency and the nature of personal savings. As a financial map of the 21st century, The Future of Money is a little hazy, but as a story of the current state of money, it's extremely entertaining. --Jerry Brotton
Stephen Denning, Program Director, World Bank
'...really opened my eyes as to what money is about, and what its future is - or is not.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
The Rt. Hon. John Redwood,MP
'I thoroughly disagree with it.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA International
Read this thoughtful,penetrating,readable book and you’ll understand how profoundly present monetary systems and the people who control them affect your life.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Stephen Denning, Program Director, Knowledge Management, World Bank.
The Future of Money really opened my eyes as to what money is about; and what its future is – and is not.’
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Dr Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain Awakens
'Exciting, challenging and profound; a unique and essential contribution to our understanding of money.'
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
A devastating analysis of how and why society depends on money. Money affects every area of life both for the individual and for business, socially, politically and economically. Clear-sighted, intellectually challenging, inspirational and controversial.
From the Publisher
A devastating analysis of how and why society depends on money. Money affects every area of life both for the individual and for business, socially, politically and economically. Clear-sighted, intellectually challenging, inspirational and controversial. As important as Will Hutton’s The State We’re In.
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
About the Author
Previously Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources at the University of California at Berkeley; Visiting Professor in Archetypal Psychology at the Department of Psychology, Sonoma State University, Bernard Lietaer has 30 years of professional experiences centered around the money system, including central banker and general manager of currency funds; senior consultant to multinational corporations; university professor and top executive of electronic payment systems.
Excerpted from The Future of Money by Bernard Lietaer. Copyright © 2002. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Preface
Deep in our hearts, we all want to leave a better world for our children and we cherish the hope that we may experience this for ourselves in our own lifetime.
However, there is growing concern that many of the challenges we now face are unrelenting and more and more people question our ability to address them effectively. Indeed, despite some breakthroughs and the valiant efforts in the public and private sectors, the challenges to our planet and society are growing both in scope and severity with each passing decade.
In this new Millennium, we are being challenged by four megatrends that are converging upon us over the next twenty years, namely:
• Climate change and loss of bio-diversity;
• An unprecedented growth in the number of elderly (the 'Age Wave');
• Monetary Instability;
• and an Information Revolution.
(The evidence for each one of these megatrends and for the collective breakdowns they will provoke are described in Chapter 1.)
Why is this? Why have our efforts, the countless billions of pounds and dollars spent all over the world, the many treaties enacted and initiatives taken, not stopped the destruction of our environment, nor effectively addressed a myriad of social issues? Is it possible that our attentions and efforts are misdirected?
Or are the challenges and issues facing our world today being fuelled by an even deeper systematic problem?
The short answer to this last question is yes.
The Future of Money is a compendium report about solutions already implemented by thousands of people around the world, who have had the courage to first identify, then directly address the underlying mechanism of their problems. Their initiatives to date are small-scale, but I see them as seedlings which - if allowed to grow - have the potential to provide effective and permanent solutions by which conditions for mankind and other living systems may improve - dramatically - within our own lifetimes.
The underlying mechanisms referred to here turn out to be specific features of our money system. Money or lack thereof, is a fundamental component of our lives. It is not, however, just the lack of money that is precipitating present trends or preventing us from addressing current challenges. Rather, it is the limited functionality of our money and monetary system that is a major force behind our present disorders. Many of the problems we face, and the solutions we seek, reside within the architecture of our current monetary system and in our understanding of, and our agreements around, money.
Fish to do not comprehend the nature of the water in which they live. Similarly, people have trouble understanding the nature of money. We allocate a great portion of our physical, emotional, and mental energy to getting, keeping, and spending money - but how many of us really know what money is or where it comes from?
In pre-Victorian England the world was oblivious of pollution, greenhouse effects and overpopulation. Nationalism, competition, endless growth and colonization were encouraged. These values are what shaped the monetary and banking systems we inherited.
However, is this what best serves our world today? I submit that those aspects of our monetary system that met the objectives of another time and age are now inadequate for the challenges facing us during an Information Age. This is particularly true in light of the fact that working solutions are already underway, with thousands of communities around the world taking their own money initiatives.
They are creating new wealth, while solving social problems without taxation or regulation. They are empowering self-organizing communities, while increasing overall economic and social stability. Finally, they enable the creation of very necessary social capital without attaching the established capital formation process.
Many attempts at money reform have failed in the past, because they were trying to attach or radically change the official money system itself. There are three reasons why I believe the current, on-going monetary initiatives have a better chance of success than ever before:
• First and foremost, these money innovations are not attacking the official money system. What they do instead is complement the conventional money system, providing new tools that can operate in parallel with it, without replacing it. That is why I call them 'complementary currencies', and not, 'alternative' ones.
• The second reason is that they have already proven to be capable of addressing breakdowns of a new nature to which no solutions have been forthcoming within the conventional money paradign.
• Finally, the availability of information technologies necessary to implement new money systems has become universal enough that a democratization of money innovations has become reality.
My career has taken me to the four corners of the earth, where I have witnessed extremely different worlds ranging from dire poverty and hunger to opulence and extravagance. Writing this book has, therefore, not been a cool, abstract intellectual exercise. Rather, it is an exploration into a deeper meaning of money.
Money not only permeates every facet of our lives, but is also hot-wired to our sensibilities. Thus I too have run through a whole gamut of emotions, playing and working with money both on a personal and professional level. While I have learned to deal with money from a professional, hyper-rational distance, I have also personally experienced extraordinary highs along with moments of bitter humiliation and bewilderment. The low of my currency trading days was when I became caught in the ebb-tide of George Soros' cornering of the Pound Sterling in the early 1990s. This instantaneously shattered my professional reputation as the 'world's top currency trader'. I lost the illusion of my own Midas touch, and most of my own money as well. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Deep in our hearts, we all want to leave a better world for our children and we cherish the hope that we may experience this for ourselves in our own lifetime.
However, there is growing concern that many of the challenges we now face are unrelenting and more and more people question our ability to address them effectively. Indeed, despite some breakthroughs and the valiant efforts in the public and private sectors, the challenges to our planet and society are growing both in scope and severity with each passing decade.
In this new Millennium, we are being challenged by four megatrends that are converging upon us over the next twenty years, namely:
• Climate change and loss of bio-diversity;
• An unprecedented growth in the number of elderly (the 'Age Wave');
• Monetary Instability;
• and an Information Revolution.
(The evidence for each one of these megatrends and for the collective breakdowns they will provoke are described in Chapter 1.)
Why is this? Why have our efforts, the countless billions of pounds and dollars spent all over the world, the many treaties enacted and initiatives taken, not stopped the destruction of our environment, nor effectively addressed a myriad of social issues? Is it possible that our attentions and efforts are misdirected?
Or are the challenges and issues facing our world today being fuelled by an even deeper systematic problem?
The short answer to this last question is yes.
The Future of Money is a compendium report about solutions already implemented by thousands of people around the world, who have had the courage to first identify, then directly address the underlying mechanism of their problems. Their initiatives to date are small-scale, but I see them as seedlings which - if allowed to grow - have the potential to provide effective and permanent solutions by which conditions for mankind and other living systems may improve - dramatically - within our own lifetimes.
The underlying mechanisms referred to here turn out to be specific features of our money system. Money or lack thereof, is a fundamental component of our lives. It is not, however, just the lack of money that is precipitating present trends or preventing us from addressing current challenges. Rather, it is the limited functionality of our money and monetary system that is a major force behind our present disorders. Many of the problems we face, and the solutions we seek, reside within the architecture of our current monetary system and in our understanding of, and our agreements around, money.
Fish to do not comprehend the nature of the water in which they live. Similarly, people have trouble understanding the nature of money. We allocate a great portion of our physical, emotional, and mental energy to getting, keeping, and spending money - but how many of us really know what money is or where it comes from?
In pre-Victorian England the world was oblivious of pollution, greenhouse effects and overpopulation. Nationalism, competition, endless growth and colonization were encouraged. These values are what shaped the monetary and banking systems we inherited.
However, is this what best serves our world today? I submit that those aspects of our monetary system that met the objectives of another time and age are now inadequate for the challenges facing us during an Information Age. This is particularly true in light of the fact that working solutions are already underway, with thousands of communities around the world taking their own money initiatives.
They are creating new wealth, while solving social problems without taxation or regulation. They are empowering self-organizing communities, while increasing overall economic and social stability. Finally, they enable the creation of very necessary social capital without attaching the established capital formation process.
Many attempts at money reform have failed in the past, because they were trying to attach or radically change the official money system itself. There are three reasons why I believe the current, on-going monetary initiatives have a better chance of success than ever before:
• First and foremost, these money innovations are not attacking the official money system. What they do instead is complement the conventional money system, providing new tools that can operate in parallel with it, without replacing it. That is why I call them 'complementary currencies', and not, 'alternative' ones.
• The second reason is that they have already proven to be capable of addressing breakdowns of a new nature to which no solutions have been forthcoming within the conventional money paradign.
• Finally, the availability of information technologies necessary to implement new money systems has become universal enough that a democratization of money innovations has become reality.
My career has taken me to the four corners of the earth, where I have witnessed extremely different worlds ranging from dire poverty and hunger to opulence and extravagance. Writing this book has, therefore, not been a cool, abstract intellectual exercise. Rather, it is an exploration into a deeper meaning of money.
Money not only permeates every facet of our lives, but is also hot-wired to our sensibilities. Thus I too have run through a whole gamut of emotions, playing and working with money both on a personal and professional level. While I have learned to deal with money from a professional, hyper-rational distance, I have also personally experienced extraordinary highs along with moments of bitter humiliation and bewilderment. The low of my currency trading days was when I became caught in the ebb-tide of George Soros' cornering of the Pound Sterling in the early 1990s. This instantaneously shattered my professional reputation as the 'world's top currency trader'. I lost the illusion of my own Midas touch, and most of my own money as well. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
