A Society Without Money

The attempts carried out in this direction by Fidel Castro (but badly thought out, as a matter of fact) have failed because of the totalitarian spirit which animated them and the particular circumstances involved (above all the general unproductivity of Cuba).| But I am more and more fascinated by the very idea of a society without money, and if, in spite of my lack of competence, I have let myself put into writing at the cost of a vast and fearful effort of the imagination a few notes on the questions which haunt me concerning this subject, it is with the hope that all the problems raised by this idea will perhaps one day attract the attention of a good economist disgusted with a civilization in which everything is subject to the absolute rule of the almighty dollar. In the country of my dreams there would be neither a gold standard nor a standard based on dollars; the State would assure for the use of its citizens, without any assignable limit and in whatever amounts would be necessary, tokens to replace money.1 And to each citizen (to celibates and married alike, but it is more convenient for me to take the case of the heads of families as an example) there would be supplied enough tokens to permit all to enjoy an affluence assuring them gratuitously, at a basic level high enough to afford them an existence consonant with their dignity as men, the material life of a family (lodging, dress, food, medical care, etc.) as well as its intellectual life (free primary and secondary education, physical

Economics · Keynesian economics · Mathematical economics · Neoclassical economics · Economic Theory and Policy

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