What is time banking?

With time banking, a person with one skill set can bank and trade hours of work for equal hours of work in another skill set instead of paying or being paid for services. The hours banked are always traded equally regardless of the services rendered.

What is Cahn's time banking philosophy?

Cahn promoted Time Banking as a means for community self-help and to fill the gap in public social services during a period when the Reagan administration was pushing cuts to spending on social programs. In his book No More Throw-Away People, Cahn outlined four core principles for time banking, later adding a fifth. They are: 2

What are the problems of time banking?

However the overhead costs, problems with managing the relative prices of different services, and difficulty of maintaining participation in effective competition with the larger money economy often spell problems for time banking systems.

How do labor-time credits work in a time bank?

In a time-banking environment, people receive labor-time credits when they provide a service to another member of the time bank (and the member receiving the service is debited an equal amount). Every hour of time is generally valued the same, regardless of the service rendered. In theory, any type of service can be exchanged for another.