Participatory Economics - Allocation in A Participatory Economy - Money in A Participatory Economy

Money in A Participatory Economy

Pareconomists propose replacing conventional money with a personal voucher system which would be non-transferable between consumers, and would be only usable at a store to purchase goods.

The proposed electronic "credits" awarded to workers based on their perceived level of effort and sacrifice would simply be deducted from the workers account when used to make a purchase, disappearing rather than transferring the credit to the vendor. People would be able to borrow credits if approved by an appropriate board, but no interest would be charged.

Albert and Hahnel claim the non-transferability of parecon credits would make it impossible to bribe or even beg for money. and monetary theft would be impossible. People would still be free to barter their individual goods with each other, e.g. exchange a couch for a stereo, but any attempt to create an exchangeable currency would likely be discouraged, as this might lead to attempts to reinstate money and capitalism. Credits might be shareable amongst family members, depending on how the parecon is set up.

Albert and Hahnel did not clarify how a currency of this form would be used in international trading with non-parecon countries. If a capitalist country refuses to be paid for their bought goods in this way, it is likely that a parecon nation would use money for international trading, but keep its unique credit currency for internal purposes.