Overview

The global money system no longer works; we need a serious overhaul of money - and of our attitude towards it. Based on the four mega-trends of monetary instability, global greying (an ageing global population), the information revolution, and climate change and species extinction, Bernard Lietaer looks at different scenarios of what the world might be like in 2020. 1. The Corporate Millennium- governments are disbanded, central banks close down and the world is run with Big Brother control by huge corporations with their own currencies.2. Caring Communities- people retreat into small, self-sustaining communities, like tribes.3. Hell on Earth- in which the breakdown of life as we know it is followed by a highly individualistic free-for-all, resulting in an ever more obscene gulf between rich and poor.4. Sustainable Abundance- envisages a world where we take better care of the environment, re-engage the poor and the unemployed in mainstream society and give back time and fulfilment to the over-worked, while providing the elderly with a high level of personal care. A society of sustainable abundance is achievable - but only if we are willing to re-invent our money system and create new currencies.

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9780712699914

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Reviews

Read this thoughtful, penetrating, readable book and you'll understand how profoundly present monetary systems and the people who control them affect your life -- Dee Hock, Founder And Ceo Emeritus, Visa International Exciting, challenging and profound; a unique and essential contribution to our understanding of money. -- Dr. Peter Russell, Author Of The Global Brain Awakens This is an important breakthrough in the emerging new economics ofsustainability and human wellbeing. -- Ed Mayo, President, The New Economics Foundation I thoroughly disagree with it. -- The Rt. Hon. John Redwood, Mp

Read this thoughtful, penetrating, readable book and you'll understand how profoundly present monetary systems and the people who control them affect your life -- Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA International Exciting, challenging and profound; a unique and essential contribution to our understanding of money. -- Dr. Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain Awakens This is an important breakthrough in the emerging new economics ofsustainability and human wellbeing. -- Ed Mayo, President, the New Economics Foundation I thoroughly disagree with it. -- The Rt. Hon. John Redwood, MP

I thoroughly disagree with it. -- The Rt. Hon. John Redwood, MP This is an important breakthrough in the emerging new economics ofsustainability and human wellbeing. -- Ed Mayo, President, the New Economics Foundation Exciting, challenging and profound; a unique and essential contribution to our understanding of money. -- Dr. Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain Awakens Read this thoughtful, penetrating, readable book and you'll understand how profoundly present monetary systems and the people who control them affect your life -- 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 -- Dee Hock, Founder and CEO Emeritus, VISA International Exciting, challenging and profound; a unique and essential contribution to our understanding of money. -- Dr. Peter Russell, author of The Global Brain Awakens This is an important breakthrough in the emerging new economics ofsustainability and human wellbeing. -- Ed Mayo, President, the New Economics Foundation I thoroughly disagree with it. -- The Rt. Hon. John Redwood, MP

Another book about the future of the world, this time linked to the way in which money creates the possibility for progress. It could be a dull affair, but it isn't. It is well-written, well-organized and essentially optimistic. The author reviews current change and the strains being put on the financial system worldwide. He shows how such things can be coped with, indeed how opportunities exist to take things forward, building on existing practices to create a money system that works and which will give us the society that we want. Lietaer's review is in the context of the current big issues. The first is the recent, and inherent, instability of monetary matters (witness the recent problems in South East Asia), and the interdependence of economies. The second is current demographic changes, particularly the increasing proportion of the population that are older and, not least, how money can suppport the needs of old age. Thirdly, and perhaps inevitably, there is a link with information technology: a revolution that may fuel unemployment as traditional jobs disappear. Lastly, climate and environmental change and the question of balancing long-term conservation with short-term financial pressures are fitted into the total picture. The book sets out to demystify today's conventional national and international money systems and the way they are changing. It then focuses on the changes in train and choices that must be made for the future in an era of jobless growth. For a serious study, the book is particularly accessible. It has cartoons to make a point and raise a smile; more importantly it has regular 'asides' - stories and examples that link what is being discussed to the nitty gritty of the real world - that act usefully to exemplify the case being made. A linked television series is due to follow. (Kirkus UK)

Author Information

Bernard Lietaer has spent 25 years working in different areas of the money system. He worked on the creation of the single European currency and was named the world's top currency trader by Business Week in 1989 (making $22m in three years). He was Professor of International Finance at the University of Louvain, Belgium, and a Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources at the University of California, Berkeley. His vast range of experience and knowledge of global money systems has made him one of the world's foremost financial visionaries.

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