How the Currency Works

The idea of an alternate to the money economy is not original, it has a variety of forms and ways of being used around the world. See for example this information on demurrage.

For the purposes of the Sharehood, the local currency is called the Samara.

How it Works
Each neighbour starts out with a balance of 250 samaras, and can move down to a limit of 0 samaras or up to the limit of 500 samaras. As an example, if Paul gives Tara 40 samaras for two hours of gardening, then Paul's balance will decrease to 210, while Tara's balance will increase to 290.

Using the system online is similar to using internet banking. For information and screenshots, check out our Samaras How-to page.

Where Does This Money Come From?
The Sharehood trading system is based on a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS), in which money is created by people as they work. So when you do your hour of gardening, and one of your neighbours is happy to pay you 20 samaras for it, that money is created. All that has happened is that your neighbour now has a debt of 20 samaras to the community, and you have a surplus of 20 samaras from the community. You can spend your surplus with anyone else in your hood, and likewise your neighbour can pay off their debt to the hood by working for anyone else.

This is totally different to the way in which money is normally created by banks as debt (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_creation if you are interested). This means that Samaras are not scarce in the same way that the official currencies are. We can create money as we need it and pay it back when we work, rather than having to borrow it at interest when we need it and pay it back plus interest by working off the loan. The official currencies by design encourage a growing debt spiral, an increase in the gap between rich and poor, and the economic boom and bust cycle. Our local currency is designed such that none of these problems are inherent to it. If you'd like to read more about any of this, Healthy Money, Healthy Planet by Deirdre Kent is an excellent book.