News | Silvio Gesell Foundation

October 14, 2025
A week from today we’ll close out the season of Economy 2.0 with a roundtable discussion on the subject of interest. Interest has drawn the attention of economists, philosophers and religions since ancient times, yet up to the present day there still isn’t a consensus regarding why interest exists. Joining us to discuss this fascinating topic will be Willem Buiter, former chief economist of Citigroup, Ahmed Anwar, lecturer in economics at the University of Edinburgh, and Felix Fuders, professor of economics at the Universidad Austral de Chile.

October 1, 2025
Join us on Tues, Oct 7 for Economy 2.0 w/special guest Nicolas Franka, a Belgian economist and founder of the Monetary Diversity network, an organization dedicated to exploring alternative monetary models and complementary currency systems. Sign up here to join the conversation live via Zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-nicolas-franka/

September 9, 2025
On Tuesday, Sept. 16th at 1pm ET we will welcome Guido Preparata to Economy 2.0. Guido is a brilliant, iconoclastic “heterodox” economist who will join us from his home in Umbria, Italy. Among other things, we will discuss the “Road Not Taken” of Proudhon & Gesell vs. the “Road Taken” of Marx and Keynes. Sign up here and join the conversation live via Zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-guido-preparata/

August 26, 2025
On Tuesday, Sept. 2nd at 1pm ET we will welcome Dr. Felix Fuders to Economy 2.0. Felix is Director of the Economics Institute and head of the Right Livelihood College at the Universidad Austral de Chile. He is also the Chairman of the Natural Economic Order Foundation in Frankfurt, Germany. Felix is the author of many books and articles, including his most recent, How to Fulfill the UN Sustainability Goals: Rethinking the Role and Concept of Money in the Light of Sustainability, in which he argues that our flawed form of money is one of the root causes of the “growth imperative” and that a sustainable future can only be achieved through a fundamental overhaul of our monetary system along the lines proposed by Silvio Gesell.

August 12, 2025
On Aug. 19th at 1pm ET, we welcome Carlos Louge to Economy 2.0. Carlos is an economist and lawyer by training and the Founder/Director of the Silvio Gesell Institute in Argentina. He is also the author of “Keynes & Gesell: A New Paradigm” a book in which he argues that a number of key concepts from Keynes’s “The General Theory” were previously developed by Gesell during his time in Argentina but that the world has not yet recognized this fact since South American economic thought in general and Gesell in particular are not part of the mainstream intellectual canon.

Sign up here and join the conversation live via Zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-carlos-louge/

July 29, 2025
Economy 2.0 returns on Tues, Aug. 5th at 1pm ET with guest Christian Gelleri. Christian is a PhD candidate in economics at the University of Siegen in Germany and a leading innovator in the complementary currency space. He is the creator of the Chiemgauer, a regional currency in Bavaria, Germany which is intended to increase local employment, support local culture and make the local food supply more resilient. The currency incorporates Silvio Gesell’s proposal of demurrage, or carrying costs, to incentivize steady circulation of money. Christian is a former Waldorf School teacher, and he created the Chiemgauer in 2003 as a project with his students. Now, over 20 years later, it is one of the most successful and sustained complementary currency projects in the world, with an annual turnover of over 7 million Euros. Sign up here and join the conversation live via Zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-christian-gelleri/

June 25, 2025
On the next episode of Economy 2.0 we’ll be doing something a little different. We will be bringing back some past guests (and a new one) to have a group discussion focused on a specific topic. Roundtable episodes will become a regular feature of Economy 2.0 going forward.

In this first roundtable, the topic we’ll explore is whether recently developed digital technologies have made it possible — for the first time in human history — for trust-based dynamics, which govern complex economic dynamics within families and small communities, to be extended to larger groups in which members do not know each other personally.

For centuries, it has been understood that once an economic community exceeds a size at which the members are all known to each other personally, trust, based on personal relationships, can no longer be the “glue” that holds the group together. Therefore other institutions like money, laws, contracts and courts take the place of trust. But could it be the case that new technologies like blockchain and web3 have now made it possible for trust-based dynamics to operate among larger groups — perhaps even globally?

SGF Director Josh Sidman will moderate a discussion on this subject including past Economy 2.0 guests Will Ruddick, Teun van Sambeek and George Lovegrove, as well as a new face, Michael Meehan.

June 10, 2025
On Tuesday, June 17th at 1pm ET, we welcome George Lovegrove to Economy 2.0. George is a crypto/web3 developer and founder of the Web3 Association. In recent months we at the Silvio Gesell Foundation have been working with George to support his efforts to promote demurrage as a treasury funding mechanism in the crypto/web3 space. This is an unexpected and exciting partnership that demonstrates that Silvio Gesell’s ideas are not just of historical interest but are also relevant to the present and future of money in the digital age. Sign up here to join the conversation live via Zoom: https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-george-lovegrove/

May 29, 2025
On Tuesday, June 3rd at 1pm ET, we welcome Dr. Willem Buiter to Economy 2.0. Dr. Buiter is an independent economic advisor, speaker, commentator and expert witness. He was Global Chief Economist at Citigroup from 2010 to 2018 and a Special Economic Advisor at Citigroup from 2018 to 2019. Previously, he was Chief Economist and Special Counselor to the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and an original member of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England. He was the Juan T. Trippe Professor of International Economics at Yale University and has also held academic appointments at the London School of Economics, Cambridge University, the University of Bristol and Princeton University. He is the author or coauthor of 78 refereed articles in professional journals and eight books. Sign up here and join the conversation live via Zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-willem-buiter/

May 13, 2025
On Tuesday, May 20th at 1pm ET, we welcome Phillip Ullmann to Economy 2.0. Phillip was formerly the head of the Cordant Group, the UK’s largest independent staffing agency with a workforce of over 10,000 people. He is a columnist for The Telegraph and a commentator on various TV networks and is considered to be a leader in social enterprises and the economy. More recently, he founded and serves as Chief Energiser of The Manna Journey, a new streaming platform the examines the present and future of economics and politics. Sign up here and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-phillip-ullmann/

Apr. 29, 2025
On the next episode of Economy 2.0 on Tuesday, May 6th at 1pm ET we welcome Clive Menzies. Clive writes about politics, economics and society at his website www.outersite.org. He was also one of the organizers of the Critical Thinking Project (2012-19). His current focus is on rethinking value as the foundation of organization and aligning life with the universe’s fundamental principle: love. Living and working alongside like-minded individuals who share a deep spiritual connection to conscious energy makes this way of life not just effortless, but profoundly fulfilling. Among other topics, Clive will describe his vision of an economic future in which conventional money is unnecessary/obsolete. Sign up here and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-clive-menzies/

Apr. 15, 2025
We are excited to welcome Michael Linton to Economy 2.0 this coming Tuesday, April 22nd, at 1pm EST. Michael is a visionary and innovator in the complementary currency and alternative exchange space, having created the first LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) in Comox Valley, British Columbia the 1980s. Sign up here to join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-michael-linton/

Apr. 4, 2025
Join us on Tuesday, April 8th at 1pm EST for the next installment of Economy 2.0 with guest presenter, Teun van Sambeek. Teun is a former IT professional and computer programmer who now focuses on economics and monetary systems. After founding multiple companies, in 2011 he moved to Africa and turned his attention to developing affordable housing. His experiences in Africa led him to arrive at some of the same conclusions as Silvio Gesell, although at the time he was not aware of Gesell’s existence. He is the founder of the 1coinH system, which is an alternative monetary model that incorporates demurrage and Universal Basic Income. Sign up at the following link and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-teun-van-sambeek/

Mar. 12, 2025
Economy 2.0 returns next Tuesday, March 18th at 1pm with Cameron Sajedi, a scientist and systems engineer who focuses on geocybernetics. Sign up here to be part of the live audience via zoom and join the conversation:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-cameron-sajedi/

Feb. 24, 2025
*EVENT CANCELLED*
The next episode of Economy 2.0 is next Tuesday at 1pm ET featuring Phillip Ullmann, Chief Energiser of The Manna Journey, an on demand streaming platform focusing on the future of business and economics. Sign up and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-phillip-ullmann/

Feb. 10, 2025
The next episode of Economy 2.0 is on Tuesday, Feb. 18th at 6:30pm ET and will feature Ed Dodson, financial professional and long-time faculty member at the Henry George School. Sign up here and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-ed-dodson/

Jan. 27, 2025
The next episode of Economy 2.0 is on Tuesday, Feb. 4th at 1pm ET and will feature Will Ruddick, founder of Grassroots Economics, who will discuss his alternative exchange paradigm, Commitment Pooling. Sign up here and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-will-ruddick/

Jan. 14, 2025
The next episode of Economy 2.0 will be on Tuesday, Jan. 21st at 1pm ET and will feature Stef Kuypers, a Belgian economist and systems engineer who is developing an alternative monetary model incorporating both demurrage and UBI. Sign up here and join the conversation live via zoom:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-stef-kuypers/

Dec. 9, 2024
Starting in January we’ll be doing 2 episodes of Economy 2.0 per month, starting with Patri Friedman, head of Pronomos Capital and founder of the Seasteading Institute (and grandson of Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman) on Jan. 7th at 6:30pm EST. Sign up here:
https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-patri-friedman/

Nov. 28, 2024
The next episode of Economy 2.0 will take place on Tuesday, Dec. 3rd at 1pm EST and will feature Tim Jenkin. One might say that Jenkin’s life has been so interesting they should make a movie about it, but they already have (“Escape from Pretoria”, starring Daniel Radcliffe as Tim). Tim broke himself out of maximum security prison and then engineered a secret cryptographic network that allowed Nelson Mandela to communicate with the outside world from captivity. And all of that was before he created the Community Exchange System, a worldwide network that facilitates economic exchange without the use of national currencies. You’re not gonna want to miss this one!
Sign up here: https://www.hgsss.org/economy-2-0-tim-jenkin/

Oct. 24, 2024
We’re excited to announce the launch of our new monthly series entitled “Economy 2.0”, which we are producing in conjunction with the Henry George School. Each episode will feature a guest presenter who will share his/her vision of a post-status quo economy. Our debut episode will be on Nov. 12th and will feature Professor Steve Keen! Join us live and participate in the conversation.

Oct. 14, 2024
SGF Founder/Director, Josh Sidman, will be giving a talk as part of the 2024 conference series of the Silvio Gesell Institute in Argentina on Thursday, Oct. 17th at 5:30pm ET. (The talk will be in Spanish.) All are welcome to join via zoom. https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85040291647?pwd=vbjQrTXrC53yBIHc5fkgj649BUjXLc.1

June 4, 2024
Help us design a logo for the newly rebranded Natural Economic System!
https://joshsidman.substack.com/p/announcing-the-nes-logo-contest

May 4, 2024
All 8 sessions of our course at the Henry George School “Silvio Gesell: Beyond Capitalism vs Socialism” are now available on our YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCso7JYZrpGfLly7KghYP37A

April 10, 2024
Final update on the Henry George School course. We have added one more session on Wednesday, April 17th. That will definitely be the last class, after which all of the classes will be posted on youtube. Here’s the signup link if you’d like to join us tonight for class #7 or next week for class #8.
https://www.hgsss.org/silvio-gesell-beyond-capitalism-vs-socialism/

Mar. 21, 2024
The course at the Henry George School has been extended. Attendance and feedback have been great, so we are adding two additional sessions to the originally scheduled five. However we will be changing the day of the week for the additional sessions, since the HGS has another course starting in the Monday time slot. So this coming Monday (March 25th) will be the last of the originally scheduled sessions, and the two additional sessions will be on Wednesday, April 3rd and 10th at 6:30pm EDT. Link for signup:
https://www.hgsss.org/silvio-gesell-beyond-capitalism-vs-socialism/

Feb. 19, 2024
New article on Substack!
Free-Markets OR Private Land Ownership: You Can’t Have Both

Feb. 1, 2024
Check out this great interview with Carlos Louge, director of our sister organization, the Silvio Gesell Institute in Argentina (video in Spanish w/English subtitles)
https://www.institutogesell.org/ieesg-novedades/#reportajevgesell1

Jan. 30, 2024
New article on Substack!
We Must Get Rid of the Word “Money”

Dec. 8, 2023
Update on Henry George School course. The start date has been pushed back to Monday, Feb. 26th. Everything else remains the same. Once again, here’s the signup link:
https://www.hgsss.org/silvio-gesell-beyond-capitalism-vs-socialism/

Nov. 28, 2023
Henry George School course officially announced and open for enrollment!
The online course on Silvio Gesell will consist of 5 sessions every Monday at 6:30pm beginning on Jan. 22nd. A course description and link for enrollment can be found here:
https://www.hgsss.org/silvio-gesell-beyond-capitalism-vs-socialism/

Oct. 26, 2023
New article on Substack!
Money: The Big Spiked Hammer

Oct. 17, 2023
We’re very excited to announce that Gesell Foundation Director Josh Sidman will be giving an online course on Gesellian economics at The Henry George School of Social Science starting in January. The Georgists are natural allies of ours since we share the core belief that private ownership of land is a key driver of poverty, wealth inequality and economic instability. Therefore they represent an important audience and potential base of support for the Gesellian program. The course will consist of 5 sessions and will begin on Monday, January 22nd. More details to follow.
The Henry George School of Social Science website

Oct. 10, 2023
We were contacted the other day by the director of a publication in Germany called Humane Wirtschaft (Humane Economy) which has been promoting Gesellian ideas for the past 17 years. Connecting with other Gesellian groups around the world in order to build a worldwide movement is a central part of our mission. Their online publication can be found at:
https://humane-wirtschaft.de/
and an English language audio version of one of their articles can be found at:
https://podcast.humane-wirtschaft.de/index.html#editorial-272

Oct. 9, 2023
New Substack article which attempts to arrive at a more precise definition of the word “interest”.
Article: The Definition of “Interest”

Sept. 29, 2023
New Substack article recounting a twitter debate with a Bitcoiner about what constitutes a medium-of-exchange
Article: A Conversation with a Bitcoiner

Sept. 22, 2023
SGF merch coming soon! This image is just a mockup, but we will have stickers, coffee mugs and tshirts available soon!

Sept. 17, 2023
New Substack Article addressing the commonly asked question “Why do we need demurrage when we already have inflation?”
Article: “Demurrage vs. Inflation”

Sept. 10, 2023
New Substack article examining how the Gesellian perspective fits within the perrenial Capitalism vs. Socialism debate
Article: Dissecting the Capitalism-vs-Socialism Dualism

Sept. 3, 2023
New Substack article introducing the land side of the Gesellian economic program
Article: The Gesellian Perspective on Land Ownership