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What Are They
Whoever uses a Time Bank has access to a range of services or skills, in exchange for which they must in turn supply other services or skills. The key concept is that in these transactions the customers do not accumulate debts or credits in terms of the monetary value of the service or skill, but in terms of the time taken to supply it, of which the Bank keeps count.
In these exchange systems no distinction is made between my hour spent teaching your son mathematics and your hour spent walking my dog. Or, again, the hour of lessons that the university professor holds on local history for the old people at the hospice is worth exactly the same as the hour of gardening that the same old folks dedicate to him looking after his rose garden.
In practice there are two kinds of Time Bank: community time banks and specialist time banks.
Community Time Banks or neighbor-to-neighbor time banks work within a specific geographical area with a specific local community. Their aim is to develop social relationships of mutual aid, based on the different abilities of each person. In this way the relationships between different generations can be strengthened but most of all, a diversification of the services available to all is created.
This kind of bank usually tends to establish a support network also with similar organizations, even if they are outside the community. The first such experience is that of Elderplan, in the Brooklyn area of New York.
Specialist Time Banks, while based on the same mechanism of time exchange, operate within homogeneous groups whose members make similar skills available. This is the case with hospices, schools or other interest groups that tend to utilize the exchange within the group and for a specific aim.
The difference between these two models also provides a way of explaining another subtle distinction between time banks and the local exchange systems or LETS, which in one way or another are similar to specialist time banks. In fact, in almost all LETS experiences the members establish by common agreement an “external” reference for the valuation of the exchange, stating for example that one hour of time is worth a certain quantity of “real” money. The mechanism is similar to that of local or complementary money, although the exchange of LETS does not use printed bank notes.
This ‘specialization’ of LETS reflects an important stage of their conceptual setup: LETS tend to institute an economic model alternative to the current system and for this reason they tend not to establish links with public services or other external organizations. In practice, in LETS the exchange between members is direct and does not take place through a coordinator or mediator (Time Broker) and all the work involved in running the group is voluntary.
But despite these differences, Time Banks and LETS can live together happily (as is happening in the community of Peckham) based on the simple revolutionary concept that an hour of my time is worth exactly the same as an hour of yours.
This is why whether one speaks of Time Banks, time dollars or Local Exchange Trading Systems one must underline the social aspect of the experience. The creator, Professor Edgar S. Cahn had exactly this social aspect created through trading in mind. And, in effect the concept of exchange based on time transforms the utilitarianism of do ut des into a new social solidarity, thanks to which also the concept of “free exchange” assumes another meaning. Exchange freed not so much from the rules of the market but from the slavery that comes about through the valuing of money above people.
(16/06/2006)
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