Thomas Henry Greco Jr. (born October 9, 1936) is a
community economist, who writes and consults on monetary exchange alternatives, including private credit clearing systems,
complementary currencies and
local currencies
In economics, a local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organisations. A regional currency is a form of local currency encompassing a larger geographical area, while a community curren ...
.
Education and career
Greco earned his
bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...
in
chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...
from
Villanova University
Villanova University is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in Villanova, Pennsylvania, United States. It was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine in 1842 and named after Thomas of Villanova, Saint Thom ...
, a
Master of Business Administration
A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...
(MBA) from the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York, United States. It was founded in 1850 and moved into its current campus, next to the Genesee River in 1930. With approximately 30,000 full ...
, and he pursued a
Doctor of Philosophy
A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of Postgraduate education, graduate study and original resear ...
(PhD) at
Syracuse University
Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...
. For fourteen years he taught economics,
finance
Finance refers to monetary resources and to the study and Academic discipline, discipline of money, currency, assets and Liability (financial accounting), liabilities. As a subject of study, is a field of Business administration, Business Admin ...
,
statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that concerns the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data. In applying statistics to a s ...
,
entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones.
An entrepreneu ...
, and
forecasting
Forecasting is the process of making predictions based on past and present data. Later these can be compared with what actually happens. For example, a company might Estimation, estimate their revenue in the next year, then compare it against the ...
as a tenured faculty member in the college of business at
Rochester Institute of Technology
The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...
.
In 1979 Thomas Greco became a private consultant and community activist, working with local
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...
peace and justice groups. From 1981 to 1990 he served as
trustee
Trustee (or the holding of a trusteeship) is a legal term which, in its broadest sense, refers to anyone in a position of trust and so can refer to any individual who holds property, authority, or a position of trust or responsibility for the ...
and then
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
of the School of Living which promotes "self-governing communities that are democratic, humane, globally conscious and ecologically sound".
A frequent contributor to the
decentralist publication ''Fourth World Review'', Greco organized of the Fourth World Assembly and New Economics Symposium held in San Francisco in 1987.
From 1989 to 1991 he co-edited Green Revolution, a journal dedicated to right education, right living and personal responsibility.
After moving to Arizona, Greco assisted in the development of LETSonora (a
Local Exchange Trading System
A local exchange trading system (also local employment and trading system or local energy transfer system; abbreviated LETS) is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that provides a community infor ...
) and helped organize Tucson Traders, both now defunct, and in 1991 organized the Community Information Resource Center (CIRC) as a project of NEST, Inc., which promoted transformative approaches to community building.
Greco has authored four books on
monetary theory and how practical monetary alternatives can empower communities by generating credit under local control. He has written for a wide range of journals, including the ''Internet Journal of Community Research, Alternate, Common Dreams, Transformation, Global Research, Reality Sandwich,
Whole Earth Review
''Whole Earth Review'' (''Whole Earth'' after 1997) was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the '' Whole Earth Software Review'' (a supplement to the '' Whole Earth Software Catalog'') and the '' CoEvolution Quarterl ...
, World Business Academy Perspectives, At Work, Earth Island Journal, the Catholic Worker, The Permaculture Activist,
Yes! Magazine, Green Revolution'', and others. Since 2019, he has hosted Beyond Money Podcast.
Bibliography
* ''The End of Money and the Future of Civilization'', Chelsea Green (June 4, 2009).
* ''Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, PDF'', Chelsea Green (November 1, 2001).
* ''New Money for Healthy Communities'', self-published, 1994.
* ''Money and Debt: A Solution to the Global Crisis'', self-published, 1990.
* ''Taking Moneyless Exchange to Scale: Measuring and Maintaining the Health of a Credit Clearing System'', International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR). April 2013
* Chapter 7, "New Mechanisms for Monetary Exchange," in Willis W. Harman, Maya Porter, ''The New Business of Business: Sharing Responsibility for a Positive Global Future,'' Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 1997,
* People-Centered Adjustment: Transcending the Debt Crisis and Creating a Future of Abundance, Freedom, and Global Harmony. Spanda Journal (Vol. 4, No. 1, 2013) pp. 69-75.
* The Money Economy Is Not the Real Economy: “The Global Banking and Financial System is Fatally Flawed.” Center for Research on Globalization, 2022.
See also
*
Credit clearing
*
Credit money
*
Commodity money
Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects having value or use in themselves ( intrinsic value) as well as their value in buying goods.
This is in contrast to representa ...
*
Complementary currencies
*
Digital cash
Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...
*
Electronic money
Digital currency (digital money, electronic money or electronic currency) is any currency, money, or money-like asset that is primarily managed, stored or exchanged on digital computer systems, especially over the internet. Types of digital cu ...
*
Economic democracy
Economic democracy (sometimes called a democratic economy) is a socioeconomic philosophy that proposes to shift ownership and decision-making power from corporate shareholders and corporate managers (such as a board of directors) to a larger ...
*
Private bank
Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "entirety of the bank's assets" as well as the entire ...
*
Private currency
*
Demurrage currency
Demurrage currency, also known as depreciating money or stamp scrip in its paper money form, is a type of money that is designed to gradually lose purchasing power at a flat constant rate. Unlike traditional money, demurrage is designed to only b ...
References
External links
Beyond Money Thomas H. Greco Jr.’s alternative currency blog.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greco, Thomas H. Jr.
1936 births
Living people
American economics writers
American male non-fiction writers
American economists
Monetary economists
Villanova University alumni
University of Rochester alumni
Syracuse University alumni