You touched on it a bit when you were talking about Mollison's views on money being "used", but what are your thoughts in general on how we think through the Keynesian insistence that the health of the economy is intimately tied to the velocity of spending (which seems very similar to Mollison's quote: "The accumulation of unused wealth, or wealth that does not lead to the proliferation of life, is a pollution of the same nature as any unused resource.")? Is the response to simply state "Yes, investment leads to innovation and growth (of many different kinds), but you can't invest what you don't at first have!". Or are their more insightful ways at getting at this?
And your discussion of mutual aid-like societies made me think of this interesting series by Samuel Hammond at Second Best (https://www.secondbest.ca/p/mormon-integralism-part-1) on Mormon successes in these undertakings. I had never heard of these before but it makes sense that such a "parallel society" would have them.
Thank you, Max, for your comment. I'm glad you like the series.
That Mollison's view appears to be in accord with Keynesian velocity of spending is a good point. My response is that, just as keeps popping up throughout the series, Mollison straddles various schools of thought. To counterbalance this seeming accord w/ Keynesian thought, he says in his section on Local Currency that communities should make their own "non-inflating currency," which would have all Keynesian's up in arms. To resolve how you could have a non-inflating currency that people chose to spend freely rather than horde is a longer discussion, but probably something like having far cheaper living expenses and therefore more expendable income, and a higher sense or responsibility to nurture your local economy.
Thanks for the share on Mormon Integralism! Will check it out.
Nice reflections. Thanks for this series.
You touched on it a bit when you were talking about Mollison's views on money being "used", but what are your thoughts in general on how we think through the Keynesian insistence that the health of the economy is intimately tied to the velocity of spending (which seems very similar to Mollison's quote: "The accumulation of unused wealth, or wealth that does not lead to the proliferation of life, is a pollution of the same nature as any unused resource.")? Is the response to simply state "Yes, investment leads to innovation and growth (of many different kinds), but you can't invest what you don't at first have!". Or are their more insightful ways at getting at this?
And your discussion of mutual aid-like societies made me think of this interesting series by Samuel Hammond at Second Best (https://www.secondbest.ca/p/mormon-integralism-part-1) on Mormon successes in these undertakings. I had never heard of these before but it makes sense that such a "parallel society" would have them.
Thank you, Max, for your comment. I'm glad you like the series.
That Mollison's view appears to be in accord with Keynesian velocity of spending is a good point. My response is that, just as keeps popping up throughout the series, Mollison straddles various schools of thought. To counterbalance this seeming accord w/ Keynesian thought, he says in his section on Local Currency that communities should make their own "non-inflating currency," which would have all Keynesian's up in arms. To resolve how you could have a non-inflating currency that people chose to spend freely rather than horde is a longer discussion, but probably something like having far cheaper living expenses and therefore more expendable income, and a higher sense or responsibility to nurture your local economy.
Thanks for the share on Mormon Integralism! Will check it out.