Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, & Society in the Age of Transition

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North Atlantic Books, 2011 - Business & Economics - 469 pages
Sacred Economics traces the history of money from ancient gift economies to modern capitalism, revealing how the money system has contributed to alienation, competition, and scarcity, destroyed community, and necessitated endless growth. Today, these trends have reached their extreme--but in the wake of their collapse, we may find great opportunity to transition to a more connected, ecological, and sustainable way of being.

This book is about how the money system will have to change--and is already changing--to embody this transition. A broadly integrated synthesis of theory, policy, and practice, Sacred Economics explores avant-garde concepts of the New Economics, including negative-interest currencies, local currencies, resource-based economics, gift economies, and the restoration of the commons. Author Charles Eisenstein also considers the personal dimensions of this transition, speaking to those concerned with "right livelihood" and how to live according to their ideals in a world seemingly ruled by money. Tapping into a rich lineage of conventional and unconventional economic thought, Sacred Economics presents a vision that is original yet commonsense, radical yet gentle, and increasingly relevant as the crises of our civilization deepen.

Sacred Economics official website: http://sacred-economics.com/
 

Contents

THE ECONOMICS OF SEPARATION
1
The Illusion of Scarcity
19
Money and the Mind
33
The Trouble with Property
49
The Corpse of the Commons
69
The Economics of Usury
93
The Crisis of Civilization
125
The Turning of the Age
141
Local and Complementary Currency
291
Transition to Gift Economy
317
Summary and Roadmap
331
LIVING THE NEW ECONOMY
347
Nonaccumulation
365
Right Livelihood and Sacred Investing
379
Working in the Gift
401
Community and the Unquantifiable
419

THE ECONOMICS OF REUNION
157
The Law of Return
173
Currencies of the Commons
185
NegativeInterest Economics
203
SteadyState and Degrowth Economics
249
The Social Dividend
267
A New Materialism
427
The More Beautiful World Our Hearts
437
Quantum Money and the Reserve Question
447
Bibliography
459
Index
465
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About the author (2011)

Charles Eisenstein is a teacher, speaker, and writer focusing on themes of civilization, consciousness, money, and human cultural evolution. His writings on the web magazine Reality Sandwich have generated a vast online following; he speaks frequently at conferences and other events, and gives numerous interviews on radio and podcasts. Writing in Ode magazine's "25 Intelligent Optimists" issue, David Korten (author of When Corporations Rule the World) called Eisenstein "one of the up-and-coming great minds of our time." Eisenstein graduated from Yale University in 1989 with a degree in Mathematics and Philosophy, and spent the next ten years as a Chinese-English translator. He currently lives in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and serves on the faculty of Goddard College.