Crowdfunding and the Democratization of Finance

Description

Do you know where your money is? More importantly, do you know what your money is doing? Most of us feel confident that we know what money is. But few of us feel confident in taking responsibility for what our money does. We hand over the power of money to banks and mainstream finance with real, often damaging, consequences for people and planet. A unique collaboration between an academic and a practitioner, this book tells the story of money, from ancient Athens to the Bitcoin revolution, to explain how crowdfunding is the way for people to reclaim the power of their money in pursuit of a fairer and greener society. Front Cover Testimonials page Crowdfunding and the Democratization if Finance Copyright information Dedication Table of contents About the Authors Acknowledgments Preface ONE The Crisis of Finance The financial Leviathan Why ‘democratic finance’? Models of democracy What does finance value? TWO What is Crowdfunding? Savings accounts (in banks, building societies or National Savings) Investments (capital at risk) eBay for money Crowdfunding: the basics Donation/rewards-based crowdfunding Debt security or loans-based crowdfunding Equity-based crowdfunding Co-operatives and community benefit societies Crowdfunding around the world and back Crowdfunding as ‘democratic finance’ Democratizing finance? For whom, about what? THREE Democratic Finance, Then and Now Who controls your money? Guardians of the financial Republic Saving versus investing P2P finance, a 2,500-year-old new idea Digging for coins From Goschen loans to Community Municipal Investments FOUR The Destination of Money Flat, colourless and heartless It’s relational work, stupid! The gift of money Modern Monetary Theory, moonshots and missions to Mars FIVE Futures of Democratic Finance Challenging crowdfunding, within and without Understanding investment as a social act The enduring paradox of financial inclusion The taboo of investment Money, meaning and those magic money trees From wealth creation to wealth management: neoliberalism’s ‘real’ legacy Beyond the crisis of finance: crowdfunding versus cryptocurrencies CONCLUSION The Change in Your Pocket Notes References Index Back Cover