View source for Time-based currency

{{Short description|Alternative currency whose unit of account is a measure of time}}
{{Infobox currency
| name = Time-based currency
| image_1 = Paxton Pantry timebank.jpg
| image_title_1 = A community timebank in [[Kingswood Estate]], London
| image_alt_1 =
| iso_code =
| issuing_authority =
| issuing_authority_website =
| date_of_introduction = [[19th century]]
| date_of_introduction_source =
| using_countries = Global
| inflation_rate =
| inflation_source_date =
| unit = Hours
| symbol = Time Dollar
| nickname = Timebanking
| plural =
}}

In [[economics]], a '''time-based currency''' is an [[alternative currency]] or exchange system where the [[unit of account]] is the [[person-hour]] or some other time unit. Some time-based currencies value everyone's contributions equally: one hour equals one service credit. In these systems, one person volunteers to work for an hour for another person; thus, they are credited with one hour, which they can redeem for an hour of service from another volunteer. Others use time units that might be fractions of an hour (e.g. minutes, ten minutes – 6 units/hour, or 15 minutes – 4 units/hour). While most time-based exchange systems are '''service exchanges''' in that most exchange involves the provision of services that can be measured in a time unit, it is also possible to exchange goods by 'pricing' them in terms of the average national hourly wage rate (e.g. if the average hourly rate is $20/hour, then a commodity valued at $20 in the national currency would be equivalent to 1 hour).

==History==
===19th century===
{{main|Labour voucher|Cincinnati Time Store}}

[[File:Truck system of payment by order of Robert Owen and Benj Woolfield, July 22nd 1833 (1294620).jpg|thumb|360px|Truck system of payment by order of Robert Owen and Benj Woolfield, National Equitable Labour Exchange, July 22nd 1833.]]
Time-based currency exchanges date back to the early 19th century.

The [[Cincinnati Time Store]] (1827-1830) was the first in a series of retail stores created by [[United States|American]] [[individualist anarchist]] [[Josiah Warren]] to test his economic [[labor theory of value]].<ref>{{cite journal |page=2 |title=Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908 by James J. Martin and Harry Elmer Barnes |first1=A.F. |last1=Tyler |journal=[[Indiana Magazine of History]] |year=1953}}</ref> The experimental store operated from May 18, 1827, until May 1830.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jujo9fJbhdoC&pg=PA123 |title=Max Stirner's Dialectical Egoism: A New Interpretation |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |first=John F. |last=Welsh |year=2010 |page=123 |access-date=November 28, 2018|isbn=9780739141564 }}</ref> The Cincinnati Time Store experiment in use of labor as a medium of exchange antedated similar European efforts by two decades.<ref name="Fishbein">{{cite journal |title=Anarchism as Ideology and Impulse: Anarchism in America   |journal=[[Film & History]] |last1=Fishbein |first1=Leslie |orig-year=1981 |date=1983 |volume=13 |number=1 |pages=17–22 |issn=0360-3695 |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/400648/summary }}</ref>

The National Equitable Labour Exchange was founded by [[Robert Owen]], a Welsh [[socialist]] and labor reformer in [[London]], [[England]], in 1832.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Patmore, Greg|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1032659601|title=A global history of co-operative business|others=Balnave, Nikola.|date=17 April 2018|isbn=978-1-317-27020-1|location=Abingdon, Oxon|oclc=1032659601}}</ref> It was established in [[Birmingham]], England, before folding in 1834. It issued "Labour Notes" similar to banknotes, denominated in units of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 40, and 80 hours. [[John Gray (19th century socialist)|John Gray]], a socialist [[economics|economist]], worked with Owen and later with [[Ricardian socialism|Ricardian Socialists]] and postulated a ''National Chamber of Commerce'' as a central bank issuing a ''labour currency''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.unionhistory.info/timeline/Tl_Display.php?Where=Dc1Title+contains+%27National+Equitable+Labour+Exchange+notes%2C+1832+%28front%29%27+|title=TUC – History Online|access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref>

In 1848, the socialist and first self-designated [[anarchist]] [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]] postulated a system of ''time chits''.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}<!-- This idea appears to originate with Alfred Darimon -->

[[Josiah Warren]] <!-- Why was his date of birth and death included here?  If you want to write in detail about Josiah Warren, contribute to the Josiah Warren article. --> published a book describing [[labor notes (currency)|labor notes]] in 1852.<ref>{{cite book|last=Warren|first=Josiah|title=Equitable Commerce: A New Development of Principles|year=1852|publisher=Burt Franklin Press|location=New York |pages=117 |url=http://tmh.floonet.net/pdf/jwarren.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927024207/http://tmh.floonet.net/pdf/jwarren.pdf|archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>

In 1875, [[Karl Marx]] wrote of "Labor Certificates" (''Arbeitszertifikaten'') in his [[Critique of the Gotha Program]] of a "certificate from society that [the labourer] has furnished such and such an amount of labour", which can be used to draw "from the social stock of means of consumption as much as costs the same amount of labour."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.marxists.org/subject/japan/tsushima/labor-certificates.htm|title=Understanding "Labor Certificates" on the Basis of the Theory of Value―The Law of Value and Socialism― 1956|author=Tadayuki Tsushima|access-date=24 February 2015}}</ref>

===20th century===

[[Teruko Mizushima]] (1920-1996) was a Japanese housewife, author, inventor, social commentator, and activist credited with creating the world's first [[Timebanking|time bank]] in 1973.{{sfnp|Lietaer|2004|loc= 4}}{{sfnp|Lebra|2007|loc= 169}}{{sfnp|Hayashi|2012|loc= 33}}

Mizushima was born in 1920 in [[Osaka]] to a merchant household.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 5}} She performed well in school and was given the opportunity to study overseas in the United States in 1939. Her stay was shortened from three years to one due to rising tensions between the US, Japan, and China. Mizushima opted to pursue a short-term diploma course in sewing.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 6}}

After returning home, she married. Her first daughter was born at the outbreak of the [[Pacific War]], and her husband was soon conscripted into the army.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 7}}

Mizushima's sewing skills proved invaluable to her family during and after the war. While the Japanese population was suffering immense material shortages,{{sfnp|Dower|1999|loc= 87-112}} Mizushima offered her sewing skills in exchange for fresh vegetables. It was during this time that she began to develop her ideas about economics and the relative value of labor.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 11, 12}}{{sfnp|Lebra|2007|loc= 169}}

In 1950, Mizushima submitted an essay to a newspaper contest as part of a national event titled “Women's Ideas for the Creation of a New Life.”{{sfnp|Mizushima|1984|loc= 191}} Her essay received the Newspaper Companies’ Prize''.''{{sfnp|Lietaer|2004|loc= 4}} While it has since been lost, the ideas in the essay attracted widespread press attention.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 20}}

Mizushima soon became a social commentator, with her views being aired on the radio, in the newspapers, and on television. She frequently appeared on the [[NHK]], the country's national broadcaster, and toured the country giving talks about her ideas.{{sfnp|Miller|2008a|loc= 25}}

In 1973 she started her group the Volunteer Labour Bank (later renamed the Volunteer Labour Network). By 1978, the bank had grown to include approximately 2,600 members. The membership included people of all ages, from teenagers to women in their seventies. The majority of members were housewives in their thirties and forties. Members were organized into over 160 local branches throughout the country, coordinated by the headquarters located on Mizushima’s estate.{{sfnp|Lebra|2007|loc= 169}}

By 1983, the network had over 3,800 members organized in 262 branches, including a branch in California.{{sfnp|Lietaer|2004|loc= 4}}

The political activist and philosopher [[Cornelius Castoriadis]], after criticizing the incoherency of capitalist, Leninist, and Trotskyist justifications of wage differentials in his 1949 [[Socialisme ou Barbarie]] text translated as “The Relations of Production in Russia” in the first volume of his ''Political and Social Writings'',<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castoriadis |first=Cornelius |url=https://files.libcom.org/files/cc_psw_v1.pdf |title=Political and Social Writings Volume 1 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |publication-date=1988}}</ref> responding to the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]], advocated that workers “proclaim the abolition of work norms and instaurate full equality of wages and salaries” in his 1957 ''Socialisme ou Barbarie'' text translated as "On the Content of Socialism, II".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castoriadis |first=Cornelius |url=https://files.libcom.org/files/cc_psw_v2.pdf |title=Political and Social Writings Volume 2 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |year=1988 |pages=151}}</ref>  He elaborated further on this advocacy of an “absolute equality of wages and incomes” in his 1974 text, "Hierarchy of Salaries and Incomes",<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castoriadis |first=Cornelius |url=https://files.libcom.org/files/cc_psw_v3.pdf |title=Political and Social Writings Volume 3 |publisher=[[University of Minnesota Press]] |publication-date=1993 |pages=207-215}}</ref> and in the “Today” section of “Done and To Be Done” (1989).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Castoriadis |first=Cornelius |url=https://www.notbored.org/cornelius-castoriadis-crossroads-5-done-and-to-be-done.pdf |title=Crossroads in the Labyrinth. Vol. 5. Done and To Be Done |pages=90-96}}</ref>

[[Edgar S. Cahn]] coined the term "Time Dollars" in ''Time Dollars: The New Currency That Enables Americans to Turn Their Hidden Resource-Time-Into Personal Security & Community Renewal'', a book co-authored with Jonathan Rowe in 1992.<ref>{{cite book|last=Cahn|first=Edgar|title=Time Dollars: The New Currency That Enables Americans to Turn Their Hidden Resource-Time-Into Personal Security & Community Renewal|year=1992|publisher=Rodale Press|location=Emmaus, Pennsylvania|isbn=978-0-87857-985-3}}</ref>  He also went on to trademark the terms "TimeBank" and "Time Credit".<ref>{{cite web|title=TIME BANKS Trademark|url=http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/Pa02vdZ9S|work=TrademarkHound|publisher=US PatentOffice|access-date=2013-04-07|archive-date=2016-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702054916/http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/Pa02vdZ9S|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=TIME CREDITS Trademark|url=http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/OismJ6wRy|work=TrademarkHound|publisher=US Patent Office|access-date=2013-04-07|archive-date=2016-07-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160702054546/http://www.markhound.com/trademark/search/OismJ6wRy|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Timebanking is a community development tool and works by facilitating the exchange of skills and experience within a community. It aims to build the 'core economy' of family and community by valuing and rewarding the work done in it. The world's first timebank was started in Japan by [[Teruko Mizushima]] in 1973<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue17/miller.htm|title=Intersections:Teruko Mizushima: Pioneer Trader in Time as a Currency|website=intersections.anu.edu.au}}</ref> with the idea that participants could earn time credits which they could spend any time during their lives. She based her bank on the simple concept that each hour of time given as services to others could earn reciprocal hours of services for the giver at some stage in the future, particularly in old age when they might need it most. In the 1940s, Mizushima had already foreseen the emerging problems of an ageing society such as seen today. In the 1990s the movement took off in the US, with Dr Edgar Cahn pioneering it there, and in the United Kingdom, with Martin Simon from Timebanking UK and David Boyle, who brought in the London-based New Economics Foundation (Nef).

[[Paul Glover (activist)|Paul Glover]] created [[Ithaca Hours]] in 1991. Each HOUR was valued at one hour of basic labor or $10.00. Professionals were entitled to charge multiple HOURS per hour, but often reduced their rate in the spirit of equity. Millions of dollars' worth of HOURS were traded among thousands of residents and 500 businesses. Interest-free HOUR loans were made, and HOUR grants given to over 100 community organizations.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://paulglover.org/hourintro.html|title=Introducing HOUR Money|website=paulglover.org}}</ref>

The first British time bank opened in 1998 in Stroud, and a national charity and membership organisation, Timebanking UK, started in 2002.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Overview|url=https://timebanking.org/overview/|access-date=2021-03-03|website=Timebanking UK|date=9 March 2020 |language=en-GB}}</ref>

===21st century===
According to Edgar S. Cahn, timebanking had its roots in a time when "money for social programs [had] dried up"<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004|p=xix}}</ref> and no dominant approach to [[social service]] in the U.S. was coming up with creative ways to solve the problem. He would later write that "Americans face at least three interlocking sets of problems: growing inequality in access by those at the bottom to the most basic goods and services; increasing social problems stemming from the need to rebuild family, neighborhood and community; and a growing disillusion with public programs designed to address these problems"<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|1999|p=499}}</ref> and that "the crisis in support for efforts to address social problems stems directly from the failure of ... piecemeal efforts to rebuild genuine community."<ref name="Cahn_1999_507">{{harvp|Cahn|1999|p=507}}</ref> In particular Cahn focused on the top-down attitude prevalent in social services. He believed that one of the major failings of many social service organizations was their unwillingness to enroll the help of those people they were trying to help.<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|1999|p=505}}</ref> He called this a deficit based approach to social service, where organizations view the people they were trying to help only in terms of their needs, as opposed to an asset based approach, which focuses on the contributions towards their communities that everyone can make.<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004|p=87}}</ref> He theorized that a system like timebanking could "[rebuild] the infrastructure of trust and caring that can strengthen families and communities."<ref name="Cahn_1999_507"/> He hoped that the system "would enable individuals and communities to become more self-sufficient, to insulate themselves from the vagaries of politics and to tap the capacity of individuals who were in effect being relegated to the scrap heap and dismissed as freeloaders."<ref name="Cahn_2004_5_6">{{harvp|Cahn|2004|pp=5–6}}</ref>

As a philosophy, timebanking, also known as Time Trade<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.awf.co.nz/|title=AWF: Blue Collar Recruitment Agency|website=www.awf.co.nz}}</ref> is founded upon five principles, known as TimeBanking's Core Values:<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.timebanks.org/five-core-values.htm|title= The Five Core Values|url-status= dead|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070711035036/http://www.timebanks.org/five-core-values.htm|archive-date= 2007-07-11}}</ref>
* Everyone is an asset
* Some work is beyond a monetary price
* Reciprocity in helping
* Community (via social networks) is necessary
* A respect for all human beings

Ideally, timebanking builds community. TimeBank members sometimes refer to this as a return to simpler times when the community was there for its individuals. An interview at a timebank in the Gorbals neighbourhood of Glasgow revealed the following sentiment:

<blockquote>[the time bank] involves everybody coming together as a community ... the Gorbals has never—not for a long time—had a lot of community spirit. Way back, years ago, it had a lot of community spirit, but now you see that in some areas, people won't even go to the chap next door for some sugar ... that's what I think the project's doing, trying to bring that back, that community sense ...<ref>{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=66}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2017 Nimses offered a concept of a time-based currency Nim.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://futurism.com/what-will-the-currency-of-a-workless-cashless-future-be|title=What Will the Currency of a Workless, Cashless Future Be?|website=Futurism|date=30 August 2017 }}</ref> 1 nim = 1 minute of life. The concept was first adopted in [[Eastern Europe]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/technology/ukrainian-tech-startup-turns-online-time-digital-cash.html|title = Ukrainian tech startup turns online time into digital cash - Jul. 21, 2017|date = 21 July 2017}}</ref>
The concept is based on the idea of universal [[basic income]]. Every person is an issuer of nims. For every minute of one's life,  1 nim is created, which can be spent or sent to another person, like money.

== Time dollars ==
{{Numismatics}}
Time dollars are a tax-exempt complementary currency<ref>{{cite book|last1=Lietaer|first1=Bernard|last2=Dunne|first2=Jacqui|title=Rethinking Money: how new currencies turn scarcity into prosperity|year=2013|publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=85|chapter=Chapter5: The Future Has Arrived But Isn't Distributed Evenly...Yet!|isbn=978-1-60994-296-0}}</ref> used as a means of providing [[mutual credit]] in TimeBanking. They are typically called "[[time credits]]" or "[[service credits]]" outside the United States. <!-- Are they tax exempt in other countries in which time credits are used? --> TimeBank members exchange services for Time Dollars. Each exchange is recorded as a corresponding [[credit (finance)|credit]] and [[debit]] in the accounts of the participants. One hour of time is worth one Time Dollar, regardless of the service provided in one hour or how much skill is required to perform the task during that hour. <!-- "In a Time Dollars system, or Time Bank, each participant's time is valued equally, whether he/she is a novice or an extensively trained expert." The tone of this statement is somewhat promotional and wordy.  One can get the idea across in neutral tone by explaining Time Dollars in terms of the 1=1 principle. It also provides a partial explanation of the mechanism that prevents inflation, hoarding, etc.  --> This "one-for-one" system that relies on an abundant resource is designed to both recognize and encourage reciprocal community service, resist [[inflation]], avoid hoarding, enable trade, and encourage cooperation among participants.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Ryan-Collins|first1=Josh|last2=Stephens|first2=Lucie|last3=Coote|first3=Anna|title=The new wealth of time: how timebanking helps people build better public services|year=2008|publisher=New Economics Foundation|location=London, UK|isbn=978-1-904882-45-9|pages=3–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Ferrara|first=Peter|title=Rethinking Money: The Rise Of Hayek's Private Competing Currencies|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2013/03/01/rethinking-money-the-rise-of-hayeks-private-competing-currencies/|access-date=March 17, 2013|newspaper=Forbes Magazine|date=March 1, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Lietaer|first1=Bernard|last2=Dunne|first2=Jacqui|title=Rethinking Money: how new currencies turn scarcity into prosperity|year=2013|publisher=Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.|location=San Francisco, CA|isbn=978-1-60994-296-0|pages=5, 79–85}}</ref><ref name=Collombook>{{cite book|last1=Collom|first1=Ed|last2=Lasker|first2=Judith|title=Equal Time, Equal Value: Community Currencies and Time Banking in the US|year=2012|publisher=Ashgate Publishing Limited|location=Burlington, VT|isbn=978-1-4094-4904-1|pages=19–20}}</ref>

===Timebanks===
Timebanks have been established in 34 countries, with at least 500 timebanks established in 40 US states and 300 throughout the United Kingdom.<ref name=yesmag>{{cite news|last=Cahn|first=Edgar|title=Time Banking: An Idea Whose Time Has Come?|url=http://www.yesmagazine.org/new-economy/time-banking-an-idea-whose-time-has-come|access-date=7 April 2013|newspaper=Yes Magazine|date=November 17, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite interview |last = Cahn |first = Edgar |author-link = Edgar S. Cahn |interviewer = Michel Martin |title = Beyond Bartering: Banking On Community Connections |work = [[Tell Me More|National Public Radio: Tell Me More]] |location = Washington, DC |date = July 19, 2011 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/07/19/138510242/beyond-bartering-banking-on-community-connections |access-date = February 10, 2013 }}</ref> TimeBanks also have a significant presence in Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Taiwan, Senegal, Argentina, Israel, Greece, and Spain.<ref>{{cite book|last=Simon|first=Martin|title=Your Money or Your Life: Time for Both|year=2010|publisher=Freedom Favours|location=Gloucestershire, UK|isbn=978-0-9566556-0-8|pages=110–115}}</ref><ref name=bbcjapan>{{cite news|title=Minister hails Japan care scheme|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11657006|access-date=7 April 2013|newspaper=BBC News UK|date=30 October 2010}}</ref><ref name=greece>{{cite news|last=Madaleno|first=Margarida|title=Time-banking offers hope to the dispossessed youth of Europe|url=http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/economics/2012/08/time-banking-offers-hope-dispossessed-youth-europe|access-date=7 April 2013|newspaper=New Statesman|date=29 August 2012}}</ref> TimeBanks have been used to reduce recidivism rates with diversionary programs for first-time juvenile offenders; facilitate re-entry of for ex-convicts; deliver health care, job training and social services in public housing complexes; facilitate substance abuse recovery; prevent institutionalization of severely disabled children through parental support networks; provide transportation for homebound seniors in rural areas; deliver elder care, community health services and hospice care; and foster women's rights initiatives in Senegal.<ref name=wbsenegal>{{Cite report |last1=Shah |first1=Angana |last2=Samb |first2=Pape |date=October 2011 |title=Time Banking™ Is More Than Money for Women in Senegal |url=https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/10431/652800BRI0IFC000Banking0Angana0Shah.pdf?sequence=1 |publisher=World Bank, International Finance Corporation |pages=1–4 |access-date= 7 April 2013|quote=foster women's rights initiatives in Senegal. }}</ref><ref name=annie>{{cite report|title=Building Social and Economic Support Networks with Time Dollars|year=2004|publisher=Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Center for the Study of Public Policy|location=Baltimore, MD|pages=5–10|url=http://www.aecf.org/upload/PublicationFiles/EC3617D80.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071029033232/http://www.aecf.org/upload/PublicationFiles/EC3617D80.pdf |archive-date=29 October 2007 |access-date=12 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ryan-Collins|first1=Josh|last2=Stephens|first2=Lucie|last3=Coote|first3=Anna|title=The new wealth of time: How timebanking helps people build better public services|year=2008|publisher=[[New Economics Foundation]]|location=London, UK|isbn=978-1-904882-45-9 |url=http://neweconomics.org/2008/03/new-wealth-time/ |access-date=12 June 2017 <!--https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://b.3cdn.net/nefoundation/3303e9051e1e0a62ef_rrm6bu0a4.pdf--> |pages=19–51}}</ref><ref name=homecomers>{{Cite report |editor-first=Christine |editor-last=Gray |date=November 2008 |title=Coming Home: An Asset-Based Approach to Transforming Self & Community |series=Co-Production at Work |volume=1 |location=Washington, DC |publisher=[[Phelps Stokes Fund]] |url=https://actionhub.timebanks.org/sites/default/files/public_files/HomeComerReport2.pdf |access-date=12 June 2017 |quote=facilitate re-entry of for ex-convicts |archive-date=12 June 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170612201800/https://actionhub.timebanks.org/sites/default/files/public_files/HomeComerReport2.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name=Letcher2009>{{cite journal|last1=Letcher|first1=Abby S.|last2=Perlow|first2=Kathy M.|title=Community-Based Participatory Research Shows How a Community Initiative Creates Networks to Improve Well-Being|journal=American Journal of Preventive Medicine|date=December 2009|volume=37|issue=6S1|pages=S292–S299|doi=10.1016/j.amepre.2009.08.008|pmid=19896032}}</ref><ref name=hospice>{{cite journal|last=Miyashita|first=Mitsunori|title=The Japan HOspice and Palliative Care Evaluation study (J-HOPE study): study design and characteristics of participating institutions|journal=American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine|date=June–July 2008|volume=25|issue=3|pages=223–232|doi=10.1177/1049909108315517|pmid=18573997|s2cid=206633499|display-authors=etal}}</ref>

=== Timebanking ===
'''Timebanking''' is a pattern of reciprocal service exchange that uses units of time as [[currency]].  It is an example of a complementary [[monetary system]].  A timebank, also known as a service exchange, is a community that practices time banking.  The unit of currency, always valued at an hour's worth of any person's labor, used by these groups has various names but is generally known as a time credit in the US and the UK (formerly a time dollar in the US).  Timebanking is primarily used to provide [[incentive]]s and rewards for work such as mentoring children, caring for the elderly, being neighborly—work usually done on a volunteer basis—which a pure market system devalues.  Essentially, the "time" one spends providing these types of community services earns "time" that one can spend to receive services.<ref>{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=63}}</ref> As well as gaining credits, participating individuals, particularly those more used to being recipients in other parts of their lives, can potentially gain confidence, social contact and skills through giving to others.  Communities, therefore, use time banking as a tool to forge stronger intra-community connections, a process known as "building [[social capital]]". Timebanking had its intellectual genesis in the US in the early 1980s.<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004}}</ref>  By 1990, the [[Robert Wood Johnson Foundation]] had invested US$1.2 million to pilot time banking in the context of senior care.  Today, 26 countries have active TimeBanks.  There are 250 TimeBanks active in the UK<ref>[http://www.timebanking.org/about.asp About Time Banking UK] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081015034402/http://www.timebanking.org/about.asp |date=2008-10-15 }} Accessed March 23, 2012.</ref> and over 276 TimeBanks in the U.S.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://community.timebanks.org/directory?quicktabs_directory_tabs=1#quicktabs-directory_tabs|title=Directory of TimeBanks|website=community.timebanks.org|access-date=2014-04-18|archive-date=2013-01-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130116013646/http://community.timebanks.org/directory?quicktabs_directory_tabs=1#quicktabs-directory_tabs|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Timebanking and the timebank==
Timebank members earn credit in Time Dollars for each hour they spend helping other members of the community. Services offered by members in timebanks include: Child Care, Legal Assistance, Language Lessons, Home Repair, and Respite Care for [[caregivers]], among other things.<ref name=autogenerated3>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080930083016/http://www.mainetimebanks.org/bank/Services.htm?v=A&n=&l= Exchanging Services – Banking Time – Strengthening Communities] Hour Exchange Portland, Accessed May 30, 2008</ref> Time Dollars AKA time credits earned are then recorded at the timebank to be accessed when desired. A Timebank can theoretically be as simple as a pad of paper, but the system was originally intended to take advantage of computer databases for record keeping.<ref name="Cahn_2004_5_6"/> Some Timebanks employ a paid coordinator to keep track of transactions and to match requests for services with those who can provide them.<ref>e.g., the [http://www.hourexchangeportland.org/ Hour Exchange Portland]</ref> Other Timebanks select a member or a group of members to handle these tasks.<ref name=autogenerated4>e.g., the [http://www.capeanntimebanks.org Cape Ann Time Bank] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190630122316/http://www.capeanntimebanks.org/ |date=2019-06-30 }}</ref> Various organizations provide specialized software to help local Timebanks manage exchanges. The same organizations also often offer consulting services, training, and other materials for individuals or organizations looking to start timebanks of their own.<ref>In the U.K.: [http://www.timebanking.org/ TimeBanking UK]; in the U.S.: [http://www.timebanks.org/ TimeBanks USA], [http://www.portlandtimebank.org/ Portland Time Bank] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141218004535/http://portlandtimebank.org/ |date=2014-12-18 }}</ref>

'''Example services offered by timebank members'''<ref name=autogenerated3 />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
| Child care
| Legal assistance
| Language lessons
|-
| Home repair
| Respite care
| Account management
|-
| Writing
| Odd jobs
| Office/business support
|-
| Tutoring
| Driving instruction
| Delivery
|}

The mission of an individual timebank influences exactly which services are offered. In some places, timebanking is adopted as a means to strengthen the community as a whole. Other timebanks are more oriented towards social service, systems change, and helping underprivileged groups. In some timebanks, both are acknowledged goals.<ref>{{harvp|Seyfang|2001}}</ref>

===Time credit===

The time credit is the fundamental unit of exchange in a timebank, equal to one hour of a person's labor. In traditional timebanks, one hour of one person's time is equal to one hour of another's. Time credits are earned for providing services and spent receiving services. Upon earning a time credit, a person does not need to spend it right away: they can save it indefinitely. However, since the value of a time credit is fixed at one hour, it resists [[inflation]] and does not earn [[interest]]. In these ways it is intentionally designed to differ from the traditional [[fiat currency]] used in most countries.<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004|pp=59–77}}</ref> Consequently, it does little good to hoard time credits and, in practice, many timebanks also encourage the donation of excess time credits to a community pool which is then spent for those in need or on community events.

==Criticisms==

Some criticisms of timebanking have focused on the time credit's inadequacies as a form of currency and as a [[Price signal|market information mechanism]]{{explain|date=November 2018}}. Frank Fisher of MIT predicted in the 1980s that such a currency "would lead to the kind of distortion of market forces which had crippled [[Planned Economy|Russia's economy]]."<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004|p=6}}</ref>

Dr. Gill Seyfang's study of the Gorbals TimeBank—one of the few studies of timebanking done by the academic community—listed several other non-theoretical problems with timebanking. The first is the difficulty of communicating to potential members exactly what makes timebanking different, or "getting people to understand the difference between timebanking and traditional volunteering."<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69">{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=69}}</ref> She also notes that there is no guarantee that every person's needs will be provided for by a timebank by dint of the fact that the supply of certain skills may be lacking in a community.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69"/>

One of the most stringent criticisms of timebanking is its organizational sustainability. While some member-run TimeBanks with relatively low overhead costs do exist,<ref name=autogenerated4 /> others pay a staff to keep the organization running. This can be quite expensive for smaller organizations and without a long-term source of funding, they may fold.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69"/><ref>[http://timebank.org.nz/node/97 Sustainability – The Business of Timebanking..] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809054630/http://timebank.org.nz/node/97 |date=2016-08-09 }} Time Bank Aotearoa New Zealand, Accessed July 23, 2012.</ref>

==Timebanking around the world==

===Global timebanking===

In 2013 '''[https://timerepublik.com TimeRepublik]''' <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.fastcompany.com/3052035/exchange-your-skills-for-free-services-with-a-different-kind-of-bank-a-time-bank|title = Exchange Your Skills for Free Services with a Different Kind of Bank: A Time Bank|date = 9 October 2015}}</ref> launched the first global Timebank. Its aim is to eliminate geographical limitations of previous timebanks.<ref>{{cite web|title=TIMEREPUBLIK finalist at LeWeb London|url=http://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/may-2013/timerepublik-finalist-at-leweb-london#.UaeGGOtAvdc|publisher=Startupticker|access-date=21 May 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bolino|first=Francesca|title=Cuochi, scrittori, idraulici ecco la banca online per prestare un'ora di talento|date=22 April 2013 |url=http://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/2013/04/22/cuochi-scrittori-idraulici-ecco-la-banca-online.html?ref=search|publisher=La Repubblica|access-date=22 April 2013}}</ref>
Since 2015 TimeRepublik has been promoting Time Banking within local governments, municipalities, universities, and large companies.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.valledaostaglocal.it/2015/10/17/leggi-notizia/argomenti/cronaca-4/articolo/il-comune-di-sarre-apre-la-banca-del-tempo.html | title=Il Comune di Sarre apre la Banca del tempo | date=17 October 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/january-2014/cooperation-of-timerepublik-and-the-municipality-of-messina | title=Cooperation of TIMEREPUBLIK and the municipality of Messina }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.lecodelsud.it/timerepublik-banca-del-tempo-per-gli-studenti-delluniversita-di-messina | title="TIMEREPUBLIK": Banca del Tempo per gli studenti dell'Università di Messina | date=3 February 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.startupticker.ch/en/news/january-2017/the-leading-banking-group-in-italy-to-test-the-b2b-timerepublik-platform | title=The leading banking Group in Italy to test the B2B TimeRepublik platform }}</ref> 
In 2017 TimeRepublik won the first prize at the [https://www.bai.org/globalinnovations/ BAI Global Innovation Awards] in the Innovation and Human Capital category <ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.bai.org/globalinnovations/awards/past-winners/2017-winners/2017-innovation-in-human-capital-award/ | title=2017 Innovation in Human Capital Award }}</ref>

The [[Community Exchange System]] (CES) is a global network of communities using alternative exchange systems, many of which use timebanks. Timebanks can trade with each other wherever they are, as well as with [[mutual credit]] exchanges. The system uses a base 'currency' of one hour, and the conversion rates between the different exchange groups are based on national average hourly wage rates. This allows timebanks to trade with mutual credit exchanges in the same or different countries.

==Studies and examples==

===Elderplan===

Elderplan was a social [[HMO]] which incorporated timebanking as a way to promote active, engaged lifestyles for its older members. Funding for the "social" part of social HMOs has since dried up and much of the program has been cut, but at its height, members were able to pay portions of their premiums in time credits (back then called Time Dollars) instead of hard currency.<ref>Louv, Richard. "Time Dollars gain currency helping the needy" ''San Diego Tribune'' May 31, 1995.</ref> The idea was to encourage older people to become more engaged in their communities while also to ask for help more often and "[foster] dignity by allowing people to contribute services as well as receive them."<ref>Wetzstein, Cheryl. "Seniors use time, not money, to buy services; Idea helps promote independent living" ''The Washington Times'' December 17, 1998.</ref>

===Gorbals timebank study===

In 2004, Dr. Gill Seyfang published a study in the ''Community Development Journal'' about the effects of a timebank located in the [[Gorbals]] area of [[Glasgow]], Scotland, "an inner-city estate characterized by high levels of deprivation, poverty, unemployment, poor health and low educational attainment."<ref name="Seyfang_2004_64">{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=64}}</ref> The Gorbals Timebank is run by a local charity with the intent to combat the social ills that face the region.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_64"/> Seyfang concluded that the timebank was effective at "building community capacity" and "promoting social inclusion."<ref name="Seyfang_2004_67_68">{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|pp=67–68}}</ref> She highlights the timebank's success at "[re-stitching] the social fabric of the Gorbals."<ref name="Seyfang_2004_67_68"/> by "[boosting] engagement in existing projects and activities" in a variety of projects including a community safety network, a library, a healthy living project, and a theatre.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_67_68"/> She writes that "the timebank had enabled people to access help they otherwise would have had to do without," help which included home repair, gardening, a funeral, and tuition paid in time credits to a continuing education course.<ref>{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=68}}</ref>

===Timebank Florianópolis===

The Time Bank of the City of Florianópolis (BTF) is one of the first and best known Time Banks in Brazil. The initiative was conceived in September 2015 at a local Zeitgeist meeting, part of the international sustainability movement.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Sayuri |first1=Juliana |title=O banco que quer seu tempo, não seu dinheiro |date=30 November 2017 |url=https://www.vice.com/pt/article/o-banco-que-quer-seu-tempo-nao-seu-dinheiro/}}</ref> BTF works from a Facebook group that has more than 20,000 members, and exchanges are counted in a spreadsheet shared with users. Scientific research on BTF indicates that the time bank is a means for creating social capital in local society<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Romanello |first1=Michele |title=Participação em bancos de tempo: utilizando dados sobre transações para avaliar o Banco de Tempo - Florianópolis |journal=Revista Catarinense de Economia |date=2017 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=48–65 |doi=10.54805/RCE.2527-1180.v1.n2.16 |s2cid=246586584 |url=http://apec.pro.br/rce/index.php/rce/article/view/16|doi-access=free }}</ref> and that BTF members have different socioeconomic characteristics compared to residents of the city of Florianópolis. Younger, non-white, employed, female individuals, working in the informal sector, with a higher education level and with a higher monthly income are more likely to be BTF members.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Romanello |first1=Michele |last2=Schneider Muller Pereira Ribas |first2=Kamila |title="Banco de Tempo-Florianópolis": análise das características socioeconômicas de seus membros |journal=Revista Brasileira de Desenvolvimento Regional |date=2020 |volume=1 |page=195 |doi=10.7867/2317-5443.2020v8n1p195-210 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Spice Timebank===
Spice is a social enterprise that has developed a time-based currency called Time Credits. Spice works across health and social care, housing, community development and education, supporting organisations and services to use Time Credits to achieve their outcomes. Spice grew out of the work of the Wales Institute for Community Currencies in the former mining districts of South Wales, UK.<ref name="Monneta 2016">{{cite web | title=Spice - support for community time credits in the UK | website=Monneta | date=2016-02-15 | url=https://monneta.org/en/spice-support-for-community-time-credits-in-the-uk/ | access-date=2022-07-16}}</ref>
Several Studies are done based on Spice Timebank or referenced this timebank.<ref name="Markkanen Burgess p. ">{{cite journal | last1=Markkanen | first1=Sanna | last2=Burgess | first2=Gemma | title=Introduction to time banking and Time Credits | date=2016 | publisher=Unpublished | doi=10.13140/RG.2.1.1069.7365 | url=http://rgdoi.net/10.13140/RG.2.1.1069.7365 | access-date=2022-07-16 | page=}}</ref><ref name="Bird Boyle 2014 p. ">{{cite book | last1=Bird | first1=S. | last2=Boyle | first2=D. | title=Give and Take: How timebanking is transforming healthcare | publisher=Timebanking UK | year=2014 | isbn=978-0-9930579-0-8 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LIiSBQAAQBAJ | access-date=2022-07-16 | page=}}</ref> In a 2016 survey, based on a 1000 members of Spice timebank, 77% of respondents said Time Credits have had a positive impact on their quality of life, 42% reported that they learned a new skill and 30% reported that they have less need to go to doctor.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://democracy.chorley.gov.uk/documents/s66712/Chorley%20Time%20Credits%20-%20Measuring%20the%20Impact%20Report%202016.pdf |title=How Spice Time Credits are creating system change |accessdate=2022-07-16 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Cincinnati Time Store]]
* [[Collaborative finance]]
* [[Community currency]]
* [[Community Exchange System]] (CES)
* [[Coproduction of public services by service users and communities]]
* [[Fiscal localism]]
* [[Labour theory of value]]
* [[Labour-time voucher]]
* [[Local exchange trading system]] (LETS)
* [[Sweat equity]]

== References ==
{{Reflist|24em}}

== Further reading ==
{{Refbegin}}
* Cahn, Edgar S. (1992). ''Time Dollars: The New Currency That Enables Americans to Turn Their Hidden Resource Time Into Personal Security and Community Renewal''. Emmaus, Penn.: Rodale Press.
* {{Cite journal |last=Cahn |first=Edgar S. |year=1999 |title=Time dollars, work and community: from 'why?' to 'why not?' |journal=[[Futures (journal)|Futures]] |volume=31 |issue=5 |pages=499–509 |doi=10.1016/S0016-3287(99)00009-9 }}
* {{Cite book |last=Cahn |first=Edgar S. |year=2004 |title=No More Throw Away People |location=Washington, DC |publisher=Essential Books }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Seyfang |first=Gill |year=2001 |title=Re-stitching the social fabric: one favour at a time |journal=[[Town and Country Planning (journal)|Town and Country Planning]] |volume=90 |issue=9 |pages=251–253 }}
* {{Cite journal |last=Seyfang |first=Gill |year=2004 |title=Time banks: rewarding community self-help in the inner city? |journal=[[Community Development Journal]] |volume=39 |issue=1 |pages=62–71 |doi=10.1093/cdj/39.1.62 |s2cid=154983448 }}
{{Refend}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB8ifVJ34JU TimeBanking] on [[YouTube]]

{{Time Topics}}
{{Means of Exchange}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Economics and time]]
[[Category:Local currencies]]
[[Category:Alternative currencies]]