Timebanking

Timebanks were coined and conceptualized in the 1980s, by Dr. Edgar S. Cahn who took to elaborating the mechanism in his academic work. In the years that followed, there were many successful and failed examples for timebanks’ implementation as a tool for social change. Historical implementations of time-based currency exchanges date back to as early as the 19th century. Dr Cahn theoreticized TimeBank hours as a new currency to provide a solution to massive cuts in government spending on social welfare as he was laying in a hospital bed due to a heart attack. He was feeling like his needs were not completely met. “If there was not going to be enough of the old money to fix all the problems facing our country and our society, Edgar reasoned, why not make a new kind of money to pay people for what needs to be done?“