Editorial: Special-purpose money for sustainability

Abstract

The rationale for this Editorial and the Special Feature Issue (SFI) it introduces is the conviction that money and monetary system design are largely overlooked in debates concerning sustainability. Modern monies (i.e., conventional sovereign fiat currencies) and aspects of them (such as their issuance, functions, and features) tend to be taken for granted as self-evident foundations for the organization of human exchange. The design of conventional money is not so self-evident as generally assumed, however. In its function as a generalized unit of account, modern money makes possible an economic conceptualization of efficiency that now dominates markets and economic thinking. Combined with currency convertibility and capital mobility, this has provided unprecedented levels of commensurability. As a feature of modern markets, this generalized commensurability is rarely questioned or reflected upon despite its significance for sustainability and growing awareness within the humanities and social sciences of the “agency” potential of artifacts (Latour in Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor-network theory, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2005). From an ontological stance of actant theory, we argue here that money and its design clearly impact on the nature of both social and human–environmental relations. Paradoxically, money—perhaps the most influential artifact of all in modern society with momentous consequences for human society, ecosystems, and the biosphere—has so far largely escaped critical scrutiny. This Editorial and the Special Feature Issue it introduces examine the relation between money design and sustainability, and explore the potentially transformative roles that Special or Limited Purpose complementary currencies might play in sustainability transitions.