Democratizing Monetary Issue: Vision and Implementation in the Berkshire Region of the U.S.

The collection of lectures and publications from the Schumacher Center for a New Economics represents some of the foremost voices on a new economics.

In this essay Susan Witt argues that the current centralized banking and money system in the United States has outlived its usefulness. Since the Federal Reserve Act of 1913, savings have been funneled out of rural areas into the large financial centers, where small businesses must compete with multinational corporations for credit. Monetary decisions are based on the needs of the largest depositors in the largest cities while the needs of vast sections of the country go unmet. With a locally-issued currency circulating in an appropriately circumscribed area or bioregion, credit decisions can be made by people with particular personal knowledge not only of the borrowers but also of the needs of the region as a whole. Launched in 2006, BerkShares, a currency for the Berkshire region of Massachusetts, provides the story of one community working to put vision into practice.