Positive Money UK is a

not-for-profit A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

advocacy group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

based in London and Brussels. Positive Money's mission is to promote various reforms of central banks and alternative monetary policy. Its current executive director is geophysicist Fran Boait.

History

Positive Money was founded in London by Ben Dyson in 2010 "Monnaie pleine : une opportunité en Suisse pour changer la monnaie" he "Full money" federal popular initiative: an opportunity to change currency in Switzerland ''La revue durable'', number 60, winter-spring 2017-2018, pages 26-29. as a response to

global financial crisis Global means of or referring to a globe and may also refer to: Entertainment * ''Global'' (Paul van Dyk album), 2003 * ''Global'' (Bunji Garlin album), 2007 * ''Global'' (Humanoid album), 1989 * ''Global'' (Todd Rundgren album), 2015 * Bruno ...

. In its early years, Positive Money focused its efforts in advocating for a fundamental reform of the United Kingdom's monetary system. In 2013, Fran Boait became executive director of Positive money. Under Boait's leadership, the organisation somehow broadened its scope and diversified its range of proposals, by including more pragmatic steps such as digital currency, and various forms of monetary financing proposals such as " People's QE" or "

helicopter money Helicopter money is a proposed unconventional monetary policy, sometimes suggested as an alternative to quantitative easing (QE) when the economy is in a liquidity trap (when interest rates near zero and the economy remains in recession). Althou ...

", and " green quantitative easing". Positive Money also adopted new tactics such as rallies in front of the Bank of England and petitioning. In 2013, Positive Money initiated the International Movement for Monetary Reform, a worldwide network of likeminded organisations. In 2015, Positive money started its international expansion by launching a Eurozone-wide campaign on "Quantitative Easing for the People". Positive money registered as a lobby group in the EU institutions in Brussels and in 2018 it formally created Positive Money Europe to operate the group's campaigns towards the

European Central Bank The European Central Bank (ECB) is the prime component of the monetary Eurosystem and the European System of Central Banks (ESCB) as well as one of seven institutions of the European Union. It is one of the world's most important centra ...

and the European Parliament. In December 2019, Positive Money Europe was able to meet with the ECB President

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; née Lallouette, ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been serving as President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th managing director of the ...

and its work has been praised by former ECB's chief economist

Peter Praet Peter Praet (born 20 January 1949 in Herchen near Eitorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Allied-occupied Germany) is a Belgian economist who served as a member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank from 2011 to 2019 and concurrently as ECB ...

. In 2016 Positive money founder Ben Dyson joined the Bank of England as a researcher, and he continued to work on

Central Bank Digital Currency A central bank digital currency (CBDC) (also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. A report by the Bank for International Settlements states that, ...

. Early 2021, Positive money won a major victory with the announcement that the Bank of England would be given the remit to green its corporate quantitative easing programme.

Proposals

Sovereign money

Positive Money's historical backbone proposal is to introduce a "sovereign money system". Daniel Eckert
"Der Krieg um das sichere Geld der Zukunft"
''

Die Welt ''Die Welt'' ("The World") is a German national daily newspaper, published as a broadsheet by Axel Springer SE. ''Die Welt'' is the flagship newspaper of the Axel Springer publishing group. Its leading competitors are the ''Frankfurter Allg ...

'', 12 January 2014 (page visited on 23 February 2018). Under such a reform, private banks would be deprived from their ability to create money by extending credit into the economy. In turn, the Bank of England would regain the monopoly over

money creation Money creation, or money issuance, is the process by which the money supply of a country, or of an economic or monetary region,Such as the Eurozone or ECCAS is increased. In most modern economies, money creation is controlled by the central bank ...

, by financing the government's budget (

monetary financing Debt monetization or monetary financing is the practice of a government borrowing money from the central bank to finance public spending instead of selling bonds to private investors or raising taxes. The central banks who buy government debt, are ...

) or distributing a citizens' dividend ("

"). The group however refutes any affiliation with

Modern Monetary Theory Modern Monetary Theory or Modern Money Theory (MMT) is a heterodox * * * * * * macroeconomic theory that describes currency as a public monopoly and unemployment as evidence that a currency monopolist is overly restricting the supply o ...

. Although Positive Money's proposal is similar to

full-reserve banking Full-reserve banking (also known as 100% reserve banking, narrow banking, or sovereign money system) is a system of banking where banks do not lend demand deposits and instead, only lend from time deposits. It differs from fractional-reserve bank ...

narrow banking Full-reserve banking (also known as 100% reserve banking, narrow banking, or sovereign money system) is a system of banking where banks do not lend demand deposits and instead, only lend from time deposits. It differs from fractional-reserve bank ...

, it differs in the sense that it would merge bank deposits and central bank money. As explained by former Positive Money researcher Frank van Lerven, "Under a Sovereign Money system, there is no longer a split circulation of money, just one integrated quantity of money circulating among banks and non-banks alike." According to former ECB Vice-president Vitor Constancio, Positive Money's proposal "would not create enough funding for investment and growth."

Other proposals

Over the years, Positive Money has broadened its agenda towards somewhat more short-term proposals such as: * Fiscal-monetary cooperation: the organisation proposes various ways to channel money created by central banks towards public spending and investment. * Reforming the governance and accountability frameworks of the Bank of England and of the European Central Bank. * Greening monetary policy: Aligning monetary policy with climate change objectives Jason Hickel
"To deal with climate change we need a new financial system"
''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

'', 5 November 2016 (page visited on 23 February 2018). though reforms of central bank's

collateral framework Collateral may refer to: Business and finance * Collateral (finance), a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan * Marketing collateral, in marketing and sales Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Collater ...

or forms of

credit guidance Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt), ...

such as green TLTROs. * Digital currency: the organisation propose implementing a

central bank digital currency A central bank digital currency (CBDC) (also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. A report by the Bank for International Settlements states that, ...

in the UK and supports the introduction of a

digital euro A central bank digital currency (CBDC) (also called digital fiat currency or digital base money) is a digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than by a commercial bank. A report by the Bank for International Settlements states tha ...

by the ECB.

References

External links