Gift economies have the adaptability, resilience, and accessibility to be the economy of choice for the world.
"In the social sciences, a
gift economy (or
gift culture)
is a society where valuable goods and services are regularly given without any
explicit agreement for immediate or future rewards (i.e. no formal quid quo pro exists).
" (from Wikipedia)
One modern version of gift economy is the various versions of a 'Time Bank'. Members are basically exchanging their time and energy with each other, and there is no need for units of currency. One example of this is the community project in Edmonton called '
FavourPod':
"Simply put, it is a gifting economy, and FavourPod members do each other favours. Once a favour is complete, the Giver's community standing is increased, and the Getter's community
standing is lowered. This score reflects each member's overall
contribution to the wellbeing of the community. In FavourPod's economy,
the more you give, the more you get."
What really stands out about Gift Economy are the Emotional and Psychological Benefits. I think we all realize that money does not necessarily equate with happiness... often, the opposite is quite true! With this sort of sharing, the
requirement and
responsibility to make transactions is removed. This means that transactions are based upon
recognition and
respect for every person's contributions... how wonderful! I believe that this aspect will be the bridge that allows for economic relationships between those living in poverty and the wealthy. The enormous value of those two categories helping each other out is fully expressed in the joy of freely giving * * *
An historical case of gift economy in the modern area comes from the region of Aragon during the Spanish Civil War. Though living with the hard realities of war times, these communities embraced:
"a currency-less gift economy where goods and services are produced by workers and distributed in community stores where everyone (including the workers who produced them) is essentially entitled to consume
whatever they want or need as "payment" for their production of goods
and services."
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