Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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apparently no one spread rumours to the contrary. Similarly, when national
currency was in short supply in New Zealand between 1850 and 1880, local
businesses sold tradesmen’s tokens that circulated because people believed they
would be redeemed for goods.
Green dollar systems work best when the system is well established and
members believe in it. People will sell their goods trusting in their belief that their
hard­earned green dollars will some day be of use to them in the system. A green
dollar community also needs to be of an optimum size, with a wide enough range
of goods and services to make it work, but not so many members that they become
anonymous and therefore cannot trust one another. An ongoing problem with
green dollar schemes is their continuing viability. Since about half of the systems
in New Zealand disappeared between 1999 and 2001, the trustworthiness of the
remaining green dollars ‘money’ may be suspect.
Sometimes trust grows fast, especially if the currency is distributed by a
reliable authority and is acceptable for taxes, food and rent. If a currency is also
designed so that users have a self­interest in widening the circle of people who
accept it, trust will certainly grow quickly. Similarly, a currency with a circulation
incentive turns currency users into currency promoters, because every user wants
to spend his or her non­hoardable money. The holder of the money thus has the
responsibility of discovering new buyers who will accept the currency, and they in
turn become new advocates for it. Community trust in Ithaca HOURs grew over a
decade. Not only are HOURs now accepted as payment by hospitals, landlords
and cinemas, but they have even become attractive to burglars!
In the case of a privately issued currency, the issuing firm must accept the
currency as payment. That is, the currency has a goods base. Generally, however,
such vouchers or tokens have only limited circulation. Examples of private