Time Dollars
An economic invention that gives value to caring and caregiving in the community economy.
“Time dollars” are a community currency invented by attorney, writer, university professor, and social activist Edgar Cahn. Rather than just relying on government-issued money, people can earn time dollars by using their skills and resources to help others (providing child or elder care, transportation, cooking, home improvement, etc.). People can then use their earned time dollars to get help for themselves or their families, or to join a club that gives them discounts on food or health care from local businesses.
Time dollars are also tools for what Cahn calls Co-Production, a method for changing unilateral charity into reciprocity, or, as Cahn puts it, turning decency, caring, and altruism into a catalyst for self-validating contributions by help recipients. “Co-production,” he writes, “gives real value to caring and caregiving, redefining productive work beyond that which is recognized in the market.”
Professor Cahn's use of time dollars as an economic strategy for addressing social problems is being implemented in 36 U.S. states as well as Sweden, Japan, and Canada.
The Time Dollar Institute is headquartered in Washington DC.
Excerpted from The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics by Riane Eisler
