Redesigning Money to Curb Globalization and Increase Resilience

Abstract

In December 2001, the government of Argentina froze the country’s bank accounts in an attempt to avoid defaulting on a debt payment owed to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). When the peso was detached from the value of the US dollar, Argentinians suddenly found their savings worth a quarter of their former value. As they were not permitted to withdraw more than 300 pesos per month from their bank accounts, millions of people resorted to barter and informally circulated credit notes in order to survive. As much as 52 percent of the population was living in poverty, and roughly 20 percent in “severe” poverty, which could include starvation (North 2007: 151). To some, it was anarchy. To others, a better economy and society was replacing neoliberalism.