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| mucr:mutual_credit [2025/12/05 10:37] – created - external edit 127.0.0.1 | mucr:mutual_credit [2026/03/12 21:02] (current) – dave |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| There was never a society in which the main means of exchange was barter, and [money didn’t evolve from barter](https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/david-graeber-on-the-invention-of-money-%e2%80%93-notes-on-sex-adventure-monomaniacal-sociopathy-and-the-true-function-of-economics.html), but from mutual exchange within communities, where the vast majority of exchanges took place. Barter was always marginal and between strangers. | _There was never a society in which the main means of exchange was barter, and [money didn’t evolve from barter](https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/09/david-graeber-on-the-invention-of-money-%e2%80%93-notes-on-sex-adventure-monomaniacal-sociopathy-and-the-true-function-of-economics.html), but from mutual exchange within communities, where the vast majority of exchanges took place. Barter was always marginal and between strangers._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| A street ad for the [Sardex](https://www.sardex.net/?lang=en) mutual credit system in Sardinia. | _A street ad for the [Sardex](https://www.sardex.net/?lang=en) mutual credit system in Sardinia._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| This stern-looking bloke is [William Batchelder Greene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Batchelder_Greene) - the first serious advocate of mutual banking and credit in the modern world - in the early 19th century in Massachusetts. | _This stern-looking bloke is [William Batchelder Greene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Batchelder_Greene) - the first serious advocate of mutual banking and credit in the modern world - in the early 19th century in Massachusetts._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| The software now exists to link all mutual credit groups together into a global trading network. It's called the [Credit Commons](http://creditcommons.net/), and we [interview the founder, Matthew Slater, here](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/building-the-credit-commons-with-mutual-credit-clubs-matthew-slater). | The software now exists to link all mutual credit groups together into a global trading network. It's called the [Credit Commons](http://creditcommons.org/), and we [interview the founder, Matthew Slater, here](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/posts/building-the-credit-commons-with-mutual-credit-clubs-matthew-slater). |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| There's a lively mutual credit scene in Australia, where they have developed their own [Australian Community Exchange System](https://www.communityexchange.net.au/) network. | _There's a lively mutual credit scene in Australia, where they have developed their own [Australian Community Exchange System](https://www.communityexchange.net.au/) network._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
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| MCS can help business networks set up and run a club quickly and cheaply, but with something new - federatability - i.e. the ability for businesses in a particular club to trade seamlessly with businesses in any other club. As this network of clubs grows, existing mutual credit schemes will be able to join, and it can develop towards a global [Credit Commons](http://www.creditcommons.net/). | MCS can help business networks set up and run a club quickly and cheaply, but with something new - federatability - i.e. the ability for businesses in a particular club to trade seamlessly with businesses in any other club. As this network of clubs grows, existing mutual credit schemes will be able to join, and it can develop towards a global [Credit Commons](http://www.creditcommons.org/). |
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| Two other developments: | Two other developments: |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| You can develop [new skills](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/topics-2/) to provide products or services for a willing group of local customers, and maybe turn that hobby into a career. | _You can develop [new skills](http://lowimpactorg.onyx-sites.io/topics-2/) to provide products or services for a willing group of local customers, and maybe turn that hobby into a career._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
| ## Further resources | ## Further resources |
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| | - [International Clearing Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Clearing_Union) - mutual credit between nations - proposed (unsuccessfully) by John Maynard Keynes at the Bretton Woods meeting in 1944 |
| | - [International Reciprocal Trade Association](https://irta.com/) - trade body for commercial barter (actually mutual credit) organisations |
| | - [Wir Bank](https://reinventingmoney.com/wir-information/) - info on the mutual credit Wir Bank from Tom Greco |
| | - [Beyond Money](https://beyondmoney.net/) - Thomas Greco's site: 'devoted to the liberation of money and credit, and the restoration of the commons' |
| | - [Community Exchange System](https://www.community-exchange.org/home/) - provides the means for communities to trade and exchange their goods and services, both locally and remotely |
| | - [Community Forge](https://communityforge.net/en) - providing open source platforms for mutual credit schemes |
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| ## Specialist(s) | |
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| | ## Related topics |
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| | - [[limo:money|Low-impact money]] |
| | - [[crcl:Credit clearing]] |
| | - [[crco:Credit commons]] |
| | - [[comg:Commoning]] |
| | - [[coec:Commons economy]] |
| | - [[comy:Community]] |
| | - [[cryp:Cryptocurrencies]] |
| | - [[lcur:Local currencies]] |
| | - [[rosc:ROSCAs|ROSCAs — rotating savings and credit associations ]] |
| | - [[self:Self-employment]] |
| | - [[smal:Small|Small is beautiful]] |
| | - [[ucos:Use-credit obligations]] |
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| | ## Specialist curators of this topic |
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