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Neues Geld für eine neue Ökonomie: Die Reform des Geldwesens als Voraussetzung für eine Marktwirtschaft, die den Menschen dient
Abstract
Nicht wenige Menschen zweifeln wieder an den Wettbewerbsfunktionen, an den Wohlstand vermehrenden Effekten, die in der ökonomischen Theorie einer freien Markt-wirtschaft zugeschrieben werden, und ziehen sogar den Kommunismus wieder als alternatives Wirtschaftsmodell in Betracht. Auch Karl Marx sah die Ungleichverteilung der Einkommen, die damals ähnlich ausufernd war, wie sie es heute ist, und suchte einen Ausweg. Leider erkannte er die dem Geld innewohne Problematik nicht und kam daher zu Lösungs-vorschlägen, die die eigentliche Problematik nicht lösen, aber stattdessen noch andere hinzufügen. Weder der Kommunismus, noch die Wettbewerbswirtschaft funktionieren langfristig, wenn wir das Geld nicht reformieren. Unser Finanzsystem ist der Hauptgrund für Marktversagen, was leider von wenigen Ökonomen erkannt wird. Wenn wir unser Geld so reformieren, wie es einst Silvio Gesell vorgeschlagen hatte, haben wir die Chance, eine nachhaltig funktionierende und gerechte Wirtschaftsordnung zu etablieren: Nennen wir sie eine Marktwirtschaft, die den Menschen dient. Wenn wir zudem erkennen würden, dass Geldverdienen kein Selbstzweck ist, könnten wir sogar von einer Marktwirtschaft, die den Menschen dient, zu einer wahrhaften Ökonomie der Nächstenliebe kommen, in der Menschen ihr Glück erreichen, indem sie einander durch Einsatz ihrer Talente dienen.
http://rd.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-12584-4_10
Supplementary resource (1)
... 18 Personally, I would not subscribe to this point of view. As I pointed out earlier (Fuders, 2017;Fuders & Nowak, 2019), the pursuit of happiness as an end in itself might even be considered superficial as the pursuit of money or recognition. Rather, in my opinion, the ultimate goal of life and deeper sense of our existence is the realisation of neighbourly love while true happiness is the compensation, we receive for achieving the goal. ...
In their ‘Human Scale Development’ approach Max-Neef et al. (1991) proposed a matrix of nine axiological (subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, idleness, creation, identity, liberty) fundamental human needs that are each viewed in four existential modes or dimensions (being, having, doing, interacting) as an instrument to be able to identify potential satisfiers, and in this to contribute to achieve a development that serves people helping them to satisfy their needs. This chapter argues that development, even if defined in terms of the fulfilment of fundamental human needs, so far fails to explain happiness. Further the article discusses whether religion could help to explain happiness and concludes that sound evidence exists that practicing spirituality is indeed key for feeling deep and abiding happiness. It is then suggested that if, as already Aristotle argued, happiness —or felicity (eudemonia) as he termed it— is to be regarded the highest aspirational good, then “spirituality” should be added to the matrix as 10th axiological fundamental human needs.
... But we need to change our monetary system to one that is more consistent with nature, and thereby get rid of the most important and at Fig. 6.1 Alleged connection between sustainability and consciousness. (Source: own work) the same time least recognized reason for market failure (Fuders, 2017). The reason why we are so far away from achieving what in economics is termed "perfect competition" (and the herewith connected just remuneration of factors of production), and the reason why we are obliged to grow and engage in unsustainable behavior is our form of money. ...
This chapter challenges the so-called environmental Kuznets curve and explains why we can extrapolate from the laws of thermodynamics that perpetual economic growth on a planet with finite resources is impossible. In the long run economic growth cannot be sustainable.
... Any business that does not generate a return at least as high as what the business owner could receive by depositing money in a bank account is economically unviable (for a similar argumentation see Suhr, 1988Suhr, , 1989. Hence, interest is the rhythm to which the real (productive) economy has to dance (Fuders, 2017), and not just a "fetish" as some believe (Hamilton, 2003). 5 ...
This chapter explains why the unnatural design of money not only creates a powerful incentive to produce more than is needed, but it even requires us to do so. In this context, we will survey the various explanatory theories of inflation and show how they all boil down to one primary phenomenon viewed from different perspectives.
It is not only the case that inequality grows exponentially according to a mathematical function, as we have discussed previously, but this inequality is unjust inequality. This is perhaps the most crucial point to understand since not all inequality is automatically unjust, at least not in the eyes of most people. Most people would agree that someone who works harder should earn more than someone who expends less effort. However, the current system not only causes a steady increase in inequality, but the nature of that inequality is at odds with most people’s sense of moral justice. Those who receive interest do not become richer through their own effort, but because of the effort (and usually also risk) of those who borrow money and pay interest. Because money does not work (even though banks use this metaphor to convince customers to invest with them), nor does it have offspring as already Aristotle had pointed out. Of course, many people earn money through their own hard work. But as soon as that money is deposited in a bank account and begins to yield interest, the recipient of that interest is earning through the productive efforts of someone else. This chapter will delve into this aspect of the problem in greater detail.
This chapter discusses ideas or proposals that have been proposed as alternatives to the current monetary system, such as Irving Fisher’s (1936a) “100% Money” proposal, Modern Monetary Theory, time banks, indexed money, gold standard, crypto-currencies, Tobin taxes or Islamic Banking. Even though some of these ideas could improve upon the status quo, none of these proposals can avoid that money supply and debt grow and eventually start decoupling from the real economy. Most “alternatives” at best address the symptoms but do not cure the illness at its roots.
Is interest a ‘necessary evil’? How can we make money flow without interest being necessary as a reward for parting with liquidity? German-Argentine merchant Silvio Gesell answered this question 100 years ago in his masterpiece “The Natural Economic Order”. This chapter presents Gesell’s proposal of natural money and explains why it could be a solution to the major problems the world faces, especially the ever-worsening problems of unsustainability and income inequality.
All but one of the UN sustainability goals are either meant to address unsustainability in stricto sensu (goals 9, 11–15) or inequality (goals 1–8, 10, 16). Both the growth imperative as well as increasing income inequality are symptoms of our unnatural monetary system. This chapter discusses how the achievement of each goal can be substantially advanced by a reform of our monetary system.
This chapter discusses how to practically implement Silvio Gesell’s solution in today’s world. Gesell had proposed to put tax stamps on the money bills (stamp scrip money). Today we can think of modern and more convenient forms to attach a hoarding fee to money. There are two different ways to apply a hoarding fee. It can either be in the form of a tax imposed by the government (fiscal policy) or as negative interest charged by the central bank (monetary policy).
This chapter explains why we are not only forced to grow from a microeconomic (supply side) point of view, as explained in the previous chapter, but why from a macroeconomic perspective (demand side) our monetary system makes economic growth possible. In this context we will explain why interest rates follow a downward trend in the long run and why central banks are really trend followers, not trend setters.
Este trabajo propone un índice de desarrollo basado en la teoría del Desarrollo a Escala Humana de Max-Neef et al. (1991). Es un índice que mide (cuantifica) la satisfacción de necesidades humanas fundamentales subjectivamente percibida. Es un índice cualitativo y cuantitativo al mismo tiempo.
"Handle äußerlich so, daß der freie Gebrauch deiner Willkür mit der Freiheit von jedermann nach einem allgemeinen Gesetz zusammenbestehen könne." Dieses oberste Rechtsprinzip formulierte Kant im ersten Teil der "Metaphysik der Sitten", der "Rechtslehre" (1797). Bereits bei Erscheinen zog der Text die Kritik auf sich, er weise in seiner Anordnung Unstimmigkeiten auf, sei partiell unverständlich. Die Neuedition bietet einen von Verderbtheiten völlig bereinigten Text, der damit erstmals in einer Fassung vorliegt, die Kants Argumentationsgang bruchlos nachvollziehbar werden läßt.
