1. NATURAL ECONOMIES, the ALTERNATIVE to MONEY A COMPARISON of BARTERING, ALTERNATIVE MONEY, CREDIT-BASED MONEY and NATURAL ECONOMIES (give-and-take) Col·lectiu Mostassa, February 2014 mostassa@enaturals.org http://enaturals.org/mostassa

2. A knowledge marketplace Write a question in a piece of paper: 1.Bartering – I don’t answer your question if you don’t answer mine! 2.Alternative money (or time banking) -- we keep a record of how many questions each has answered (or time invested answering) 3.“Official” money – I make profit answering questions (private school) 4.Natural economies (gib & nimm) – “Can anyone answer my question?”

3. Card game market-place simulation Bartering gets stuck Official money: the lender creates (does not own) the money it lends. The interest requested is money that does not exist. Alternative money: even if goods reach the people that need them, the final distribution of money is uneven (because prices are arbitrary) Natural economies bring resources to needs without direct exchange (sharing).

4. Use value vs exchange value In an exchange, what you get has use value for you. And what you give has exchange value. This is true for bartering, alternative money and official money. In natural economies (gib & nimm) you don’t give anything in exchange!!! (when the person who has given st to you needs st, she’ll ask the group).

5. Get for your needs, give from your capabilities Asking is the trigger of natural economies. Asking is endogenous, it gets you close to your true needs. Choosing is exogenous (consumerism replaces freedom with choice) By asking, everyone gets what they need By giving, everyone contributes with what they can.

6. Social/moral prejudices on exchange 1.The lack of realization of ask & give relationships in every-day life. 2.The missconception that bartering is the alternative to money 3.The urge to pay something back in exchange for what we are given (otherwise, we feel in debt). 4.The need to keep some exchange value for the future adquisition of use value. 5.The prejudice that the exchanged goods should have a similar value (value is therefore measured, and abused) 6.The free-rider panic: every one should get and contribute the same. 7.The confidence that exchange based relationships like alternative money will “build trust” towards donation.

7. Natural economies vs Alternative currencies Any currency requires the quantification of value. Many alternative currency systems use official prices. They don’t correct the relative value of goods. By exchanging currency for goods (or keeping accounts) they reinforce the “need to give something in exchange” (opposite direction from donation). Free-riders become marginalized, even though they might just be “unemployed”

8. Conclusions The goal of economic activity is to find resources to realize true necessities Natural economies are the most effective way to achieve this aim, and keep equity (needs, capab) Our proposal is to reclaim natural economies, by moving away from consumerism, and by enlarging those intimate spaces where natural economies already take place. Before running to the shop, thing first if you can ask someone for what you need!