Economics

2017 Programs

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At the beginning of 2017, we posted this as our CRCSolutions.org web site: CRCS will be moving in several new directions this year, which we think will be of interest to a wider audience than just those of us interested in financing clean energy. We've been focusing more on communities in the past year, and on the values and vision that led to our mission, to assist local communities and neighborhoods to become more resilient in the face of the widening impacts of a changing climate. We are [Read more...]

Nudging Things Along

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I've recently gotten interested in Behavioral Economics, and picked up a new book at the library by Richard Thaler, Misbehaving, in which he recounts the history of the field (which is basically that of the rediscovery of common sense, in the face of enormous resistance from conventional economists). Essentially, Behavioral Economics is about observing people's actual economic behavior, and basing economic models and policy recommendations on evidence. His main conclusions: If you [Read more...]

JerseyBucks™

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JerseyBucks™ are a form of local currency, expanded to the level of a state. The purpose of a local currency is to increase the recirculation of the money spent within the community; when members accept the currency, the same money is typically used more than four times before leaving the community, whereas using conventional currency the local circulation is only about one-and-a-half times. JerseyBucks™ are essentially credits, which we think of as Commons Credits, roughly equivalent to a [Read more...]