Aging$
In follow-up to a conversation with Ryan and a sleepy Josh during Aya and my brief trip to Tokyo over the past two weeks, here are some links on the idea of an aging money system.
I would recommend first reading Momo by Michael Ende...or maybe last. Either way it is a great story and deals with the issues of money and time in a brief and beautiful tale of fantasy.
The last work of Ende, actually not his writing but an interview conducted by NHK during his final days when he lived in Japan, titled, Ende's Last Message (Ende no Yuigon) is the best place to find him directly discussing his ideas on economic theory...but I couldn't find a full translation online. There is however, this article, talking about the interview and the topics discussed therein.
A reference and predecessor to Ende's thinking is Silvio Gessel, and his work on economic theory and an aging money system can be found, in full, here.
I have yet to go through all of Gessel's work...but it's interesting stuff and worth a look at least.
j$
posted by jason at
1:23 AM
4 Comments:
Interesting stuff, I wonder what Ende would say about the periods of asset hyperinflation we call bubbles. Doesn't the sudden and extreme depreciation of an asset, at least somewhat, resemble the death of money? I think I can understand the disadvantages of capitalism better than I can understand the advantages of a system where money has a finite life. But then again I haven’t read the book.
I'll take the time to watch those videos, I swear...
http://youtube.com/watch?v=w3dJu1ewY0s
I guess Carola would get the most out of these, being in Japonese AND Deutsch.
Me neither.
But this was my initial impression as well. inflation = aging money.
hmmm...I think that the aging money Ende and Gessel are talking about is more of a means to reduce the use of money to the straightforward and direct exchange for goods or services.
I think one of the major targets of these guys' aging money ideas is the ever increasing money supply which leads to inflation...but inflation only seems to balance or off-set this, so while it may be a sort of aging money it's not the same kind being spoken of in these works.
Of course, I have never taken any courses on economics so...my understanding of any of this is rudimentary at best.
Still...read Momo, it will take you all of a few hours.
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