Century-Old Idea of Expiring Money Resurfaces as Unconventional Way to Spur Spending
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German economist Silvio Gesell proposed money that expires like a newspaper over 100 years ago to discourage hoarding wealth. He called it Freigeld.
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John Maynard Keynes said the principles of Freigeld were sound and the future would learn more from Gesell than Marx.
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In 2020 a Federal Reserve official wondered if stimulus checks with "a time fuse" would have juiced the economy more than checks people hoarded.
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The Fed official finds Gesell's expired money concept "intriguing" but doubts it could work on a large scale.
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The article explores the novel thought experiment of money expiring and how it would change the nature of money.