Could the money system be the basis of a sufficiency economy?

Real-World Economics Review, Issue no. 54

Mary Mellor, 2010

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Résumé :

Those arguing for an ecologically sustainable economy point to the destructive nature of the capitalist market (Scott Cato 2006). This is mainly in terms of externalities and the drive for growth (Scott Cato 2009). Value is attributed to those activities and resources that can immediately access and generate money. Resources not already in private ownership are treated as free goods, and market prices do not take account of long term damage to the environment. The capitalist financial system also drives growth as the search for profits

drives competition and expansion together with the reliance on debt-based bank credit to fund the monetary circuit (Rossi 2007, Parguez & Seccareccia 2000). Ecofeminist political economy adds to the ecological critique by pointing out that much of women’s work and lives is excluded from the money-based economy (Mellor 2010b). The market economy and the public economy both frame their activities in money terms, externalising unpaid community and domestic activities. The real economy in ecological and feminist terms would embrace all aspects of the provisioning conditions for human existence to include unpaid work and environmental resources , damage and resilience.

So why see money as the key to developing a sufficiency economy?

Sources :

www.paecon.net/PAEReview/issue54/Mellor54.pdf