Bernard Lietaer

Bernard Lietaer (2011)

Bernard A. Lietaer (born February 7, 1942 in Lauwe ; † February 4, 2019 in Hoyerhagen ) was a Belgian financial expert who was known for his propagation of complementary currencies .

Life

Bernard Lietaer studied electrical engineering at the University of Leuven from 1962 to 1967. As a student he was a member of the Olivaint Conference of Belgium . From 1967 to 1969 he was a teaching and research assistant at MIT and an MBA student at the local business school.

In the academic field, he worked from 1975 to 1978 and from 1983 to 1986 as an assistant professor for international finance at the University of Leuven . From 1992 to 1998 he taught as a visiting professor at Sonoma State University archetypal psychology from 2003 to 2006, he built as a visiting scholar at the Naropa University in Boulder (Colorado) , the local Marpa Center for Business and Economics on.

Bernard Lietaer was an executive at the Belgian central bank and was responsible for the introduction of the ECU , the convergence mechanism that led to the European single currency, the euro .

In his role as managing director and currency dealer of one of the most successful offshore currency funds from 1989 to 1992, Business Week named him the top global currency dealer.

He has advised multinational corporations and governments in developing countries and president of an electronic payment system.

He was a Research Fellow at the Center for Sustainable Resources at the University of California at Berkeley .

Lietaer died of cancer in his home in February 2019, three days before his 77th birthday.

Positions and works

Lietaer proposed a future world currency called Terra . In his books he dealt intensively with the concept of a demurrage of money.

On the occasion of the financial crisis from 2007 onwards , he commented on the reasons, analyzed the situation and suggested possible solutions. In addition to a number of symptoms such as greed , the current financial system in particular is too efficient .

Banking regulations are politically wanted and only part of a cat-and-mouse game that has existed since the 17th century, since the banks were given the monopoly on the creation of money . The prevention of a collapse of the economic cycle was correct, but does not prevent the dangers of economic stagnation that threaten due to balance sheet adjustments. Furthermore, the concentration processes in the banking sector would increase, so large institutions would swallow smaller ones. This would increase future costs should they get into trouble.

The efficiency of the entire banking system would increase more and more, but with it the instability. Resilience is therefore important, something that has only recently been able to be modeled mathematically. Following the example of nature, diversity and networking should therefore increase, especially in the monetary system . The monopoly of national currencies is therefore in the way, and free money with complementary currencies is a possibility for more sustainability. Regional currencies would therefore combine unused resources with unsatisfied needs and connect them to the economic cycle. Such a system, where companies create their own money, would contribute to the economic stability of Switzerland and function with the WIR system .

Publications

• Financial Management of Foreign Exchange. An Operational Technique to Reduce Risk. MIT Press, Cambridge (Mass.) 1971, ISBN 0-262-12039-9
• Short-term planning models. In: Studies in Management Science and Systems. Volume 2. North Holland Publishing Co., 1975
• Europe + Latin America + the Multinationals. A Positive Sum Game for the Exchange of Raw Materials and Technology in the 1980s. Saxon House, London 1979, ISBN 0-566-00221-3
• The Future of Money: Creating New Wealth, Work and a Wiser World . Random House, London 2001, ISBN 0-7126-9991-0
  • The money of the future. About the destructive effect of the existing monetary system and the development of complementary currencies. Riemann, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-570-50008-X
    • Website for the German version ( Memento of March 8, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
    • Review ( memento of October 19, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) by Werner H. Heussinger on holis.org
• Mystery of money. Emotional meaning and mode of action of a taboo. Riemann, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-570-50009-8
• The alchemy of money . In: Tattva Viveka. November 15, 2000
• The world of money. The educational book. Arena, Würzburg 2001, ISBN 3-401-05287-X
• with Margrit Kennedy : regional currencies. New ways to sustainable prosperity. Riemann, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-570-50052-7
• with Stephen Belgin: Of Human Wealth: Beyond Greed and Scarcity. Human Wealth Books and Talk, 2004, ISBN 0-9745848-0-0
• with Robert Ulanowicz & Sally Goerner: Options for Managing a Systemic Banking Crisis . In: Sapiens Revues. Volume 2, No. 1, March 2009
  • Ways to Manage Systemic Banking Crises
• with Gwendolyn Hallsmith: Creating Wealth: Growing Local Economies with Local Currencies. New Society Publishers, 2011, ISBN 0-86571-667-6
• with Stephen Belgin: New Money for a New World. Qiterra Press, 2011
  • Website for the book
• with Christian Arnsperger, Sally Goerner & Stefan Brunnhuber: Money and Sustainability: The Missing Link. A Report from the Club of Rome - EU Chapter. Triarchy Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-908009-75-3
  • Money and Sustainability: From an Outdated Financial System to a Monetary Ecosystem. A report from the Club of Rome - EU Chapter. Europa-Verlag, Munich 2013, ISBN 978-3-944305-06-6
  • Website for the book with full text
• with Margrit Kennedy & John Rogers: People Money: The Promise of Regional Currencies. Triarchy Press, 2012, ISBN 978-1-908009-76-0
• with Helga Preuss, Marek Hudon, Kristof de Spiegeleer, Dieter Legat & Cary Sherburne: Towards a sustainable world. Delta Institute - Dieter Legat EU 2019, ISBN 978-3-200-06527-7
  • Website for the book

Movies

• Appearances are deceptive. An expedition into the riddle of money. 2009 by Claus Strigel.
• " What About Money? “Bernard Lietaer in an interview with Lars Schall, 2012.

literature

• Peter Krause: Bernard Lietaer. Life and Work (in two volumes). Neopubli GmbH, Berlin 2020, Volume I ISBN 978-3-75296-291-8 , Volume II ISBN 978-3-75296-299-4

Web links

• Official website with curriculum vitae
• Interview ( memento of March 9, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) in Tausch-System-Nachrichten No. 9, October 1999
• Out of control ( memento of April 29, 2001 in the Internet Archive ), interview with the St. Galler Tagblatt ,
• How money becomes sustainable ( Memento from October 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive ), interview with holis.org
• Beyond Greed and Scarcity , interview with Sarah van Gelder on Transaction Net ( Beyond Greed and Knappheit , German translation in Connection, October 2008; summary by Heike Görner on holis.org )
• One world, one currency and more value , interview with Elisabeth Gründler in brand eins , 7/2001
• Alternative financial expert to Greece: “The country needs a second currency” , interview with Eric Bonse in the taz , June 4, 2012
• Literature by and about Bernard Lietaer in the catalog of the German National Library

Footnotes

1. ↑ ^{a b} David Robb: Bancor Foundation announces death of president Bernard Lietaer. In: chepicap.com. February 4, 2019, accessed February 5, 2019 . 
2. ↑ ^{a b} Bernard Lietaer † February 4th, 2019 | Monneta. Retrieved on August 20, 2019 (German). 
3. ↑ My path is karma yoga, archive link ( memento from July 14, 2014 in the Internet archive ), course contacts. Retrieved May 27, 2014
4. ^ ^{A b c} Elisabeth C. Gründler: Increased risk of accidents ( memento from July 18, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), brand eins edition 1/2009