Twelve Systems Worth Testing

The theories below represent a deliberately diverse spectrum of untried or under-tested monetary and economic systems — ranging from commodity-backed currencies to digital mutual credit networks to Islamic interest-free models. The After This movement does not endorse any single theory; it insists that the only honest answer to the socialism-vs.-capitalism deadlock is empirical experimentation.

The After This movement proposes testing these systems at the level of willing jurisdictions — states, territories, counties, or countries — as active, real-world economic experiments rather than purely academic or theoretical debates. Visitors are invited to read each theory, form a view, and then vote on which five should be prioritized for real-world testing.

The Theories

1. Economic Democracy Act / Binary Economics

Proposes broadening capital ownership so that productive assets generate income for all citizens, not just current owners. Solves the inequality of capital concentration by funding universal ownership stakes through central-bank credit rather than redistribution.

2. Greenback / Sovereign Money

Calls for government — not commercial banks — to issue all money debt-free, as Abraham Lincoln's Treasury did during the Civil War. Eliminates interest on public money creation and removes the systemic pressure of compound debt growth.

3. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT)

Holds that a government issuing its own currency can never involuntarily default and should spend to achieve full employment, taxing to control inflation rather than to fund spending. Challenges the austerity logic built into deficit-phobic policy.

4. Gold / Metal Standard

Anchors the money supply to a fixed physical commodity, constraining government spending and inflation by tying currency issuance to reserves. Proposes solving monetary debasement and trust deficits through hard-asset discipline.

5. Universal Basic Income (UBI)

Provides every citizen an unconditional periodic cash payment as a floor beneath which no one falls. Addresses automation-driven job displacement and poverty traps without means-testing bureaucracy.

6. Bitcoin Standard

Replaces central-bank fiat with a fixed-supply, decentralized digital currency whose issuance no government or institution can manipulate. Proposes solving inflation and monetary sovereignty erosion through algorithmic scarcity.

7. Time Banking

Uses hours of service as the unit of exchange — one hour of any work equals one hour of any other work. Builds community resilience and values labor types that market wages systematically underprice or ignore.

8. Islamic Banking

Prohibits interest (riba) and requires that money be tied to real productive activity through profit-and-loss sharing arrangements. Proposes solving speculative debt spirals by grounding finance in tangible economic outcomes.

9. Mutual Credit / DLT

Creates money as a mutual agreement between transacting parties recorded on a distributed ledger, with no central issuer and no interest. Solves scarcity-of-money bottlenecks by allowing communities to self-issue credit proportional to real productive capacity.

10. Free Banking

Allows competing private banks to issue their own currencies without central-bank monopoly or government backstop, relying on market discipline to eliminate unsound issuers. Proposes solving moral hazard and inflation through competitive accountability.

11. Demurrage (Holding Fees)

Charges a periodic fee on stored money, incentivizing circulation and penalizing hoarding. Addresses velocity-of-money stagnation and the deflationary hoarding dynamic that accompanies economic anxiety.

12. The Chicago Plan

Requires 100% reserve backing for all demand deposits, separating money creation from credit creation and eliminating bank-run risk. Proposed by economists at the University of Chicago in the 1930s as a cure for boom-bust credit cycles.

The Experimentation Model

The After This movement's defining proposal is that monetary reform must move from debate to demonstration. Rather than waiting for global consensus or top-down policy mandates, willing jurisdictions — a U.S. state, a Canadian province, a Pacific island nation, a German county — should be empowered to run bounded, transparent, time-limited experiments with alternative monetary systems.

Each experiment would operate within a defined population and geography, with independent oversight, published metrics, and clear exit criteria. Multiple systems could be tested simultaneously in different jurisdictions. Failure is not a catastrophe — it is data. Success creates a replicable model that other jurisdictions can adopt.

This is how science advances. It is how medicine tests treatments. It is how engineering validates designs. Monetary systems — which govern the material conditions of every human life — deserve the same empirical rigor. After This exists to build the political will and organizational infrastructure to make those experiments possible.

Common Questions

  • Can multiple systems be tested at the same time?
    Yes — and that is the point. Parallel experiments across different jurisdictions produce comparative data no single experiment can yield. One region might trial Sovereign Money while another tests Mutual Credit DLT. The results inform each other and accelerate learning without requiring global agreement on a single path forward.
  • Who would oversee the experiments?
    Each experiment would require an independent oversight body agreed upon by the participating jurisdiction — potentially including academic economists, civil society representatives, and international observers. After This advocates for transparent, publicly auditable metrics from day one. The movement does not itself govern experiments; it builds the coalition that makes them politically viable.
  • What happens if a tested system fails?
    A bounded experiment with clear exit criteria means failure is contained and informative rather than catastrophic. Participants would retain the ability to return to prior arrangements. The historical record of monetary failures — from hyperinflation to bank runs — shows that the greater risk lies in never testing alternatives at all.

Now Vote on the Top Five

You have read the theories. You have seen the model. The next step is democratic: cast your validated vote for the five systems you believe should be prioritized for real-world testing. Every vote shapes the movement's advocacy agenda.