Economic Direct Democracy

* Book: Economic Direct Democracy: A Framework to End Poverty and Maximize Well-Being. By John C. Boik

URL = http://www.PrincipledSocietiesProject.org (free pdf)

Description

1.

"the book describes a new, local economic framework that could help cities and regions increase wages, reduce income inequality, reduce unemployment, improve well-being, and raise funds for infrastructure repair, climate change, and other important issues. Nonprofits and schools also benefit from the new source of funding."

2.

"Economic Direct Democracy is a book-length proposal for transforming local economies into sustainable, democratic systems. John Boik describes a novel local economic framework that represents a synthesis of approaches already in use in some cities around the world. The framework builds on ideas from buy-local, invest-local, local-currency, local-food, local-sharing, open-source, open-government, open-data, participatory democracy, and related community development, knowledge transfer, and decision-making initiatives.

The framework is implemented by a Local Economic Direct Democracy Association (LEDDA), which is a membership-based, community-benefit corporation. The LEDDA framework functions as an overlay to an existing city or regional economy. It offers all members roughly equal and direct opportunity to influence their local economy.

The framework is intended to empower communities to strengthen local economies and take meaningful action on infrastructure repair, debt, income inequality, health care, climate change, environmental degradation, and other issues of importance. Results from a computer simulation model, discussed in the book, describe how the system leads to higher incomes, reduced income inequality, reduced unemployment, and funding for schools, nonprofits, and businesses.

Contents

Chapter 1: Getting There From Here

 1.1 A Confluence of Crises
   Six Challenges
   Local Problems
 1.2 Purpose
 1.3 Strategy
 1.4 Cooperation

Chapter 2: The LEDDA Framework and Notions of Justice

 2.1 Elements of the LEDDA Framework
 2.2 Notions of Justice
   Adam Smith
   John Rawls
   Amartya Sen
   Rawls, Sen, Arrow, and the LEDDA Framework

Chapter 3: Economic Direct Democracy

 3.1 What Is Democracy?
 3.2 Decision-Making Processes
   Purchasing Decisions
   Bakery Example
   The Crowd-Based Financial System
   Bakery Example, Continued

Chapter 4: LEDDA Impact

 4.1 Integrated Approach
 4.2 LEDDA Microsimulation Model

Chapter 5: Income Equality

 5.1 Income and Wealth Distributions
 5.2 Issues of Income Equality
 5.3 Engagements

Chapter 6: Token Exchange System

 6.1 Overview of Local Currencies
   Local and Regional Complementary Currencies
   Global Complementary Currencies
 6.2 Flows in the Token Exchange System
   The Token Monetary System
   For-Profit and Nonprofit Organizations
   Collaborative Governance System
   Crowd-Based Financial System
   Loan Certificate Trading System
 6.3 Legal Aspects of Local Currencies

Chapter 7: Principled Business Model

 7.1 Public Corporations
 7.2 Socially Responsible Corporate Forms
   Social Business
   Nonprofits in the United States
 7.3 Principled Business
 7.4 Certifying a Principled Business
 7.5 Diversity of Principled Businesses
 7.6 Intellectual Property

Chapter 8: National Monetary and Financial Systems

 8.1 Eight Differences
 8.2 Debt-Free Money Creation
   The Fed, Banks, and Dollar Creation
   The LEDDA Approach to Token Creation
   Dollar Debt
 8.3 Focus on Economic Development
 8.4 Inflation-Free Money
 8.5 Income Inequality
 8.6 Environmental Stewardship
 8.7 High Transparency
 8.8 Alternative Conceptual Models

Chapter 9: Collaborative Governance System

 9.1 Three Branches of Collaborative Governance
 9.2 Administrative Branch
 9.3 Legislative Branch
   Evolutionary Computation
   Details of the Legislative Process
 9.4 Judicial Branch

Chapter 10: Starting and Operating a LEDDA

 10.1 LEDDA Startup
 10.2 Businesses Diversity and Distributive Enterprises
 10.3 Targeting Economic Sectors
 10.4 Climate Change and the Environment
 10.5 Interrelated Problems
 10.6 Next Steps