Inspiration Feed 05.14
Inventing currencies, concentration of wealth in Brazil, transformational sharing, behavioural economics & more…
links selection – 14.may.15
The 20 Companies That Own Brazil
by Anderson Antunes (forbes.com)
Brazil’s trillion-dollar economy is concentrated within a group of about 12 corporations that together represent more than 50% of the total wealth. It is staggering that in the 21st century, half of the world’s population owns no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage”
Transactional Sharing, Transformational Sharing
by Sharon (shareadelaide.com)
If those creating and scaling successful for-profit platforms are benefiting from the commons, such as use of the road infrastructure, shouldn’t they also be contributing to the commons, which requires investment and maintenance?”
If you want to know what money is, don’t ask a banker. Take a leap of faith and start your own currency
by by Brett Scott (aeon.co)
Local currencies such as the Brixton Pound are about localising, whereas digital currencies such as Bitcoin are about decentralising and internationalising. Meanwhile, so-called demurrage currencies — deliberately engineered to lose value over time — are about energising the volume of transactions, as people have no incentive to hoard them. Freicoin, for example, is an attempt to create a demurrage version of Bitcoin, neutralising the hoarding impulse built into Bitcoin’s psychological structure. Then there are timebanks — community systems where people directly exchange labour time, which is about humanising and reconnecting exchange.
Behavioural economics may not have all the answers, but it’s close
By David Orrell (theneweconomy.com)
Following the recent crisis, which went completely unpredicted, the belief that markets acted rationally turned out to be wishful thinking. It is obviously easier to model people who are selfish, have fixed preferences, and are completely rational, than it is to model people who are influenced by the opinions of others, change their minds for no reason, and make puzzling and bizarre life choices.
* weekly inspiration illustration by Ilan Katin
