Ithaca Hours

Last updated
Ithaca Hours
Ithaca HOUR (English)
Unit
Pluralhours
Denominations
Banknotes
 Freq. used1⁄10, 1⁄8, 1⁄4, 1⁄2, 1 & 2 Hours
Demographics
Date of introductionNovember 1991
User(s) Ithaca, New York, United States
Issuance
Central bank Ithaca Hours, Inc
 Website ithacahours.com
Valuation
Pegged with 1 hour = US$10

The Ithaca HOUR was a local currency used in Ithaca, New York, though it is now no longer in circulation. [1] It was one of the longest-running local currency systems, and inspired other similar systems in Madison, Wisconsin; Santa Barbara, California; Corvallis, Oregon; [2] and a proposed system in the Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania. [3] One Ithaca HOUR was valued at US$10 and was generally recommended to be used as payment for one hour's work, although the rate is negotiable.

Contents

The currency

Ithaca HOURS were not backed by national currency and cannot be freely converted to national currency, although some businesses did agree to buy them. [4] HOURS were printed on high-quality paper and used faint graphics that would be difficult to reproduce. Each bill was stamped with a serial number, to discourage counterfeiting. [2] [5]

In 2002, a one-tenth hour bill was introduced, partly due to the encouragement and funding from Alternatives Federal Credit Union and feedback from retailers who complained about the awkwardness of only having larger denominations with which to work; the bills bear the signatures of both HOURS president Steve Burke and the president of AFCU. [5]

Ithaca HOUR notes began to fall into disuse for several reasons. First, the founder of the system, Paul Glover, moved out of the area. While in Ithaca, Glover had acted as an evangelist and networker for HOURS, helping spread their use and helping businesses find ways to spend HOURS they had received. Secondly, the use of HOURS declined as a result of the general shift away from cash transactions towards electronic transfers with debit or credit cards. Glover emphasized that every local currency needs at least one full-time networker to "promote, facilitate and troubleshoot" currency circulation.

Origin

Ithaca HOURS were started by Paul Glover in November 1991. [6] The system has historical roots in scrip and alternative and local currencies that proliferated in America during the Great Depression. [6]

While doing research into local economics during 1989, Glover had seen an "Hour" note issued by 19th century British industrialist Robert Owen to his workers for spending at his company store. After Ithaca HOURS began, Glover discovered that Owen's Hours were based on Josiah Warren's "Time Store" notes of 1827.

In May 1991, local student Patrice Jennings interviewed Glover about the Ithaca LETS enterprise. This conversation strongly reinforced his interest in trade systems. Jennings's research on the Ithaca LETS and its failure was integral to the development of the HOUR currency; conversations between Jennings and Glover helped ensure that HOURS used knowledge of what had not worked with the LETS system. [7]

Within a few days, Glover had designs for the HOUR and Half HOUR notes. He established that each HOUR would be worth the equivalent of $10, which was about the average hourly amount that workers earned in surrounding Tompkins County, [8] although the exact rate of exchange for any given transaction was to be decided by the parties themselves. At GreenStar Cooperative Market, a local food co-op, Glover approached Gary Fine, a local massage therapist, with photocopied samples. Fine became the first person to sign a list formally agreeing to accept HOURS in exchange for services. Soon after, Jim Rohrrsen, the proprietor of a local toy store, became the first retailer to sign-up to accept Ithaca HOURS in exchange for merchandise.

When the system was first started, 90 people agreed to accept HOURS as pay for their services. [8] They all agreed to accept HOURS despite the lack of a business plan or guarantee. Glover then began to ask for small donations to help pay for printing HOURS.

Fine Line Printing completed the first run of 1,500 HOURS and 1,500 Half HOURS in October 1991. These notes, the first modern local currency, were nearly twice as large as later printings of Ithaca HOURS. Because they didn't fit well in people's wallets, almost all of the original notes have been removed from circulation.

The first issue of Ithaca Money was printed at Our Press, a printing shop in Chenango Bridge, New York, on October 16, 1991. The next day Glover issued 10 HOURS to Ithaca Hours, the organization he founded to run the system, as the first of four reimbursements for the cost of printing HOURS. The day after that, October 18, 1991, 382 HOURS were disbursed and prepared for mailing to the first 93 pioneers.

On October 19, 1991, Glover bought a samosa from Catherine Martinez at the Farmers' Market with Half HOUR #751—the first use of an HOUR. Several other Market vendors enrolled that day. During the next years more than a thousand individuals enrolled to accept HOURS, plus 500 businesses.

Stacks of the Ithaca Money newspaper were distributed all over town with an invitation to "join the fun."

A Barter Potluck was held at GIAC on November 12, 1991, the first of many monthly gatherings where food and skills were exchanged, acquaintances made, and friendships renewed.

Management and philosophy

In 1996, Glover was running the Ithaca Hours system from his home, and the system had an advisory board and a governing board called the "Barter Potluck". [8] The board and Glover put forth the idea that economic interactions should be based on harmony rather than on more Hobbesian forms of competition. In one interview, Glover stated that "There's a growing movement called "ecological economics" and Ithaca HOURS is part of that cosmos. Last year I wrote an article which discusses moving us toward the provision of food, fuel, clothing, housing, transportation, [and other] necessities in ways which are healing of nature, or which are less depleting at least and which bring people together on the basis of their shared pride, not arrogance." Thus one underlying principle of the local currency movement is to create "fair trade" with a minimum of conflict or exploitation of either people or natural resources. [9]

The advisory board incorporated the Ithaca HOUR system as Ithaca Hours, Inc. in October 1998, and hosted the first elections for Board of Directors in March 1999. The first Board of Directors included Monica Hargraves, Dan Cogan, Margaret McCasland, Erica Van Etten, Greg Spence Wolf, Bob LeRoy, LeGrace Benson, Wally Woods, Jennifer Elges, and Donald Stephenson. In May 1999 Glover turned the administration of Ithaca HOURS over to the newly elected Board of Directors. Glover has continued to support Ithaca Hours through community outreach to present, most notably through the Ithaca Health Fund (now incorporated as part of the Ithaca Health Alliance) and Ithaca Community News.

The current Board of Directors, 2014–2015, includes Erik Lehmann (chair), Danielle Klock, and Bob LeRoy.

Economic development

Several million dollars value of HOURS have been traded since 1991 among thousands of residents and over 500 area businesses, including the Cayuga Medical Center, Alternatives Federal Credit Union, the public library, many local farmers, movie theatres, restaurants, healers, plumbers, carpenters, electricians, and landlords.

One of the primary functions of the Ithaca Hours system is to promote local economic development. Businesses who receive Hours must spend them on local goods and services, thus building a network of inter-supporting local businesses. While non-local businesses are welcome to accept Hours, those businesses need to spend them on local goods and services to be economically sustainable.

In their mission to promote local economic development, the Board of Directors also makes interest-free loans of Ithaca HOURS to local businesses and grants to local non-profit organizations.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barter</span> Direct reciprocal exchange of goods or services without the use of money

In trade, barter is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists distinguish barter from gift economies in many ways; barter, for example, features immediate reciprocal exchange, not one delayed in time. Barter usually takes place on a bilateral basis, but may be multilateral. In most developed countries, barter usually exists parallel to monetary systems only to a very limited extent. Market actors use barter as a replacement for money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, such as when currency becomes unstable or simply unavailable for conducting commerce.

A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the British Pound Sterling (£), euros (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hyperinflation</span> Rapidly accelerating inflation

In economics, hyperinflation is a very high and typically accelerating inflation. It quickly erodes the real value of the local currency, as the prices of all goods increase. This causes people to minimize their holdings in that currency as they usually switch to more stable foreign currencies. When measured in stable foreign currencies, prices typically remain stable.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Bank Act</span> Primary federal legislation authorizing the creation of national banks in the US

The National Banking Acts of 1863 and 1864 were two United States federal banking acts that established a system of national banks, and created the United States National Banking System. They encouraged development of a national currency backed by bank holdings of U.S. Treasury securities and established the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency as part of the United States Department of the Treasury and a system of nationally chartered banks. The Act shaped today's national banking system and its support of a uniform U.S. banking policy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Federal Reserve Act</span> 1913 United States law creating the Federal Reserve System

The Federal Reserve Act was passed by the 63rd United States Congress and signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson on December 23, 1913. The law created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States.

In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community currency might be local or be used for exchange within an online community. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. Such currencies may not be backed by a national government nor be legal tender. About 300 complementary currencies, including local currencies, are listed in the Complementary Currency Resource Center worldwide database.

Economic anthropology is a field that attempts to explain human economic behavior in its widest historic, geographic and cultural scope. It is an amalgamation of economics and anthropology. It is practiced by anthropologists and has a complex relationship with the discipline of economics, of which it is highly critical. Its origins as a sub-field of anthropology began with work by the Polish founder of anthropology Bronislaw Malinowski and the French Marcel Mauss on the nature of reciprocity as an alternative to market exchange. For the most part, studies in economic anthropology focus on exchange.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States one-hundred-dollar bill</span> Current denomination of United States currency

The United States one-hundred-dollar bill ($100) is a denomination of United States currency. The first United States Note with this value was issued in 1862 and the Federal Reserve Note version was launched in 1914, alongside other denominations. Statesman, inventor, diplomat, and American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin has been featured on the obverse of the bill since 1914. On the reverse of the banknote is an image of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which has been used since 1928. The $100 bill is the largest denomination that has been printed and circulated since July 13, 1969, when the larger denominations of $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 were retired. As of December 2018, the average life of a $100 bill in circulation is 22.9 years before it is replaced due to wear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Glover (activist)</span>

Paul Glover is a community organizer, author, and former university professor currently based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Calgary Dollars is a local currency in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. While functioning as a limited form of currency within Calgary, it is not legal tender nor is it backed by a national government. Instead, the currency is intended as a tool for community economic development as well as a focus for community building and local resiliency.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Counterfeit money</span> Imitation currency produced without the legal sanction of a state or government

Counterfeit money is currency produced without the legal sanction of a state or government, usually in a deliberate attempt to imitate that currency and so as to deceive its recipient. Producing or using counterfeit money is a form of fraud or forgery, and is illegal. The business of counterfeiting money is nearly as old as money itself: plated copies have been found of Lydian coins, which are thought to be among the first Western coins. Before the introduction of paper money, the most prevalent method of counterfeiting involved mixing base metals with pure gold or silver. Another form of counterfeiting is the production of documents by legitimate printers in response to fraudulent instructions. During World War II, the Nazis forged British pounds and American dollars. Today some of the finest counterfeit banknotes are called Superdollars because of their high quality and imitation of the real US dollar. There has been significant counterfeiting of Euro banknotes and coins since the launch of the currency in 2002, but considerably less than that of the US dollar.

A complementary currency is a currency or medium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies. Complementary currencies are usually not legal tender and their use is based on agreement between the parties exchanging the currency. According to Jérôme Blanc of Laboratoire d'Économie de la Firme et des Institutions, complementary currencies aim to protect, stimulate or orientate the economy. They may also be used to advance particular social, environmental, or political goals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chiemgauer</span>

Chiemgauer is a regional local currency started in 2003 in Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany. Named after the Chiemgau, a region around the Chiemsee lake, it is intended to increase local employment, supporting local culture, and make the local food supply more resilient. The Chiemgauer operates with a fixed exchange rate, tied to the value of the euro: 1 Chiemgauer = €1.

The history of money is the development over time of systems for the exchange, storage, and measurement of wealth. Money is a means of fulfilling these functions indirectly and in general rather than directly, as with barter.

A private currency is a currency issued by a private entity, be it an individual, a commercial business, a nonprofit or decentralized common enterprise. It is often contrasted with fiat currency issued by governments or central banks. In many countries, the issuance of private paper currencies and/or the minting of metal coins intended to be used as currency may even be a criminal act such as in the United States. Digital cryptocurrency is sometimes treated as an asset instead of a currency. Cryptocurrency is illegal as a currency in a few countries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money</span> Object or record accepted as payment

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bristol pound</span> Local currency

The Bristol pound (£B) was a form of local, complementary, and/or community currency launched in Bristol, UK on 19 September 2012. Its objective is to encourage people to spend their money with local, independent businesses in Bristol, and for those businesses to in turn localise their own supply chains. At the point of the close of the digital scheme in August 2020, it was the largest alternative in the UK to official sterling currency, and is backed by sterling.

Túmin is an alternative currency used in the municipality of Espinal, Veracruz, Mexico. Its name means "money" in the Totonac language.. Espinal is a municipality of some 2600 inhabitants, 19% of whom are indigenous Totonac people. Used as a complementary currency, the Tumin was first put in circulation in 2010 as a student project at the Intercultural University of Veracruz, where students were trying to find ways of strengthening the local economy. In Espinal the access to cash is scarce as most people work for the minimum wage. The project creators analyzed the economy of the area and concluded that there were sufficient goods and demand, but that a medium of exchange was lacking. The creators designed bills and started promoting its use as a kind of exchange coupon among locals in Espinal, in order to support a barter economy. The bills are decorated with the likenesses of Emiliano Zapata and paintings by Diego Rivera, and they describe the value of the bill in Spanish and Totonac. The Tumin is accepted in Espinal in the purchase of services from health care to tacos and internet cafe visits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">United States two-dollar bill</span> Current denomination of United States currency

The United States two-dollar bill ($2) is a current denomination of United States currency. A portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States (1801–1809), is featured on the obverse of the note. The reverse features an engraving of the circa 1818 painting Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull.

References

  1. ↑ Nathanson, Rebecca (2016-07-07). "Who Needs Money? Alternative Currencies Create Ways to Build Community and Keep Things Local". The Progressive. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
  2. 1 2 "Emily Lambert, "Funny Money", Forbes, Feb. 14th, 2006". Forbes.com. 2006-02-14. Archived from the original on 2013-01-23. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  3. ↑ Soper, Spencer (2009-01-07). "Spencer Soper, "Lehigh Valley group eyes a local alternative to money", The Morning Call, Jan. 7, 2009". Courant.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-12. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  4. ↑ ""New age town in U.S. embraces dollar alternative", www.chinadaily.com.cn, Jun. 21, 2007". China Daily . Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  5. 1 2 M. Tye Wolfe 10/02/2002 (2009-06-13). "M. Tye Wolf, "Making Money - The brand new one-tenth Ithaca Hour bill hits the streets", Ithaca Times, Oct. 2, 2002". Zwire.com. Archived from the original on 2014-03-01. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  6. 1 2 ""ITHACA JOURNAL; An Alternative to Cash, Beyond Banks or Barter", New York Times, May 31, 1993". The New York Times . 1993-05-31. Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  7. ↑ Maurer, Bill (1986-06-26). Bill Maurer, Mutual life, limited: Islamic banking, alternative currencies, lateral reason, Princeton University Press, 2005, p. 47. ISBN   0691121974 . Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  8. 1 2 3 Nieves, Evelyn (1996-01-21). "Evelyn Nieves, "Our Towns;Ithaca Hours: Pocket Money For Everyman", New York Times, Jan. 21, 1996". The New York Times . Retrieved 2009-07-10.
  9. ↑ Fortier, Jana "Underthrowing the System: How Low Finance Undermines Corporate Culture" Conscious Choice: Journal of Ecology and Healthy Living Sept/Oct 1996.'
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.