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What is Reinventing Money?
Reinventing Money is an archival website about monetary history and reform, focused on “demystifying money and liberating exchange.” Its stated mission is to collect documents and resources that support economic democracy, self-determination, and global harmony. The site is aimed mainly at monetary researchers and historians rather than casual readers or people looking for current news or practical how-to guidance.
Its core value is the material it preserves. The page highlights a Library and Case Studies section, including works from what John Zube calls the “Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom”—early twentieth-century authors such as Heinrich Rittershausen, Ulrich von Beckerath, Edgard Milhaud, Walter Zander, and Walter Unger. The site also points to the free money movement of the 1930s and 1940s and to The Annals of Collective Economy (now Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics). The operator describes Reinventing Money as an archive and directs readers seeking regular posts, articles, presentations, and interviews to a separate active site, BeyondMoney.net.
Who it suits
- Monetary historians and researchers who want primary or historical documents.
- Students exploring currency alternatives, free money ideas, and economic democracy.
- Readers willing to dig through an archive rather than follow a blog.
Who it does not suit
- Anyone wanting frequent updates; the site itself says it is archival.
- Practitioners or social entrepreneurs looking for current coverage—the operator points those readers elsewhere.
- People seeking simple explanations or introductory summaries.
A useful next step is to decide which need you have. If you want historical depth, start with the Case Studies and Library sections and treat the site as a research archive. If you want ongoing commentary, use it as a reference shelf and look for the operator’s active site for newer material. For broader context on alternative economics, you can also consult Beyond Money.
What specific historical documents and resources are available in the site's library?
The library is the core of Reinventing Money, and it is deliberately narrow: it is an archival collection for monetary researchers and historians, not a general-purpose learning site. The material concentrates on the "free money" and monetary-freedom tradition of the early twentieth century, especially the group the site quotes John Zube as calling the "Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom." Expect primary texts, draft legislation, and scholarly articles rather than modern commentary or how-to guides.
What the library covers
- Works by Heinrich Rittershausen and Ulrich von Beckerath — named on the site as the foremost German authors in the collection.
- The Four Law Drafts — draft monetary legislation associated with Walter Zander and Walter Unger, with the site noting Unger was murdered by the Nazis and Zander escaped to England.
- Edgard Milhaud, described as the Swiss contributor to that school of thought.
- Articles from The Annals of Collective Economy, now Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, where much free-money scholarship of the 1930s and 1940s appeared.
- Case studies and research links, presented as separate sections alongside the library files.
How to use it
If you are writing a thesis chapter, a syllabus, or a long-form article on currency alternatives, start with the Case Studies to orient yourself, then move into the Library files for the primary sources. The site itself warns that the collection is unique and not available elsewhere, so treat it as a citation source rather than a summary source — read the documents themselves.
One practical caveat: the site is explicitly archival and says its owner now posts current material at Beyond Money. If you need recent developments for practitioners or students, that is the better starting point; come here for the historical record. If your interest is the broader landscape of complementary and local currencies, Complementary Currency and IJCCR publish research in this area, while Community Exchange System shows one operating model in practice.
Who are the key authors and thinkers in the 'Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom' featured on the site?
The site highlights a specific early-20th-century current it calls the “Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom.” According to the page evidence, the main figures named are:
- Heinrich Rittershausen — described as foremost among the Germans.
- Ulrich von Beckerath — also named among the leading German contributors.
- Edgard Milhaud — identified as the Swiss member of this school.
- Walter Zander — one of two Jewish contributors to the “Four Law Drafts”; the site notes he escaped to England.
- Walter Unger — the other Jewish contributor to the Four Law Drafts; the site states he was murdered by the Nazis.
The site frames this group as a distinctive and otherwise hard-to-find collection from the first half of the twentieth century, with particular emphasis on the free-money movement of the 1930s and 1940s.
If you want to go deeper, start with the site’s Case Studies and Library sections, which the page specifically recommends for works from this school. For a concrete research path, compare Rittershausen and von Beckerath on German monetary reform, then read Milhaud alongside Zander and Unger to see how the “Four Law Drafts” fit into the broader free-money debates of the period.
How does the site connect the free money movement of the 1930s and 1940s to contemporary monetary reform efforts?
Reinventing Money treats the 1930s–40s free money movement as a usable archive rather than a finished history, and it links that material to present-day reform mainly by handing researchers the primary sources that later arguments build on.
Its bridge between then and now has three parts:
- An explicit division of labor. The site describes itself as an archival resource aimed at monetary researchers and historians, and points visitors to a separate active site for current posts, articles, presentations and interviews aimed at practitioners, social entrepreneurs and students. So the historical lineage is documented here; the contemporary commentary is meant to live elsewhere.
- A named school of thought. The Library and Case Studies sections gather works the site calls the "Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom," including Heinrich Rittershausen, Ulrich von Beckerath, Edgard Milhaud, Walter Zander and Walter Unger. These are the authors a modern reformer would cite when arguing that monetary design is a deliberate choice rather than a natural fact.
- A counterfactual that carries the argument forward. The site notes that had the "Four Law Drafts" been enacted in Germany in the 1930s, Hitler might never have come to power. That claim is what turns a historical collection into a case for contemporary reform: it frames monetary rules as consequential enough to change political outcomes.
A practical way to use the connection: pick one reform proposal you care about today — say, alternative or complementary currencies, or public control of money issuance — and search the Case Studies and Library for the 1930s–40s arguments on the same question. You will usually find the modern version is a restatement, and the older text supplies the reasoning your own writing will otherwise have to invent. The site also points to The Annals of Collective Economy (now Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics) as a major outlet for that scholarship.
One trade-off to expect: an archival site is deep but static. If you want current developments, the site itself directs you to Beyond Money for regular posts and interviews. For the broader tradition of monetary and exchange alternatives, Social Trade Organisation and Complementary Currency Resource Center are useful companions.
What is the relationship between ReinventingMoney.com and BeyondMoney.net, and where should I go for current analysis?
ReinventingMoney.com is the archival half of the pair: it hosts historical documents and research on monetary reform, aimed mainly at monetary researchers and historians. Its own welcome text points readers to BeyondMoney.net for regular posts, articles, presentations, interviews, and broader coverage of developments relevant to practitioners, social entrepreneurs, and students. In other words, the same author maintains both, but they serve different time horizons rather than duplicating each other.
For current analysis, go to BeyondMoney.net. Use ReinventingMoney.com when you want primary and secondary source material from earlier debates — for example, the Case Studies and Library sections, which the site describes as holding a distinctive collection of early-twentieth-century works from what one contributor called the "Swiss, German, Jewish school of monetary freedom," including Heinrich Rittershausen, Ulrich von Beckerath, Edgard Milhaud, Walter Zander, and Walter Unger. That material is the reason to visit the archive; it is not where you should look for commentary on this year's policy or technology news.
A practical way to decide:
- You are writing a paper, thesis, or long-form piece on currency alternatives and want citable historical sources. Start at ReinventingMoney.com, then check BeyondMoney.net for how those ideas are being applied now.
- You want to follow ongoing developments, interviews, or practitioner-facing discussion. Go straight to BeyondMoney.net and treat ReinventingMoney.com as background reading.
- You are new to the subject. Read the current site first for framing, then return to the archive once you know which historical authors you actually need.
One caveat worth building into your workflow: an archival site reflects the state of a collection, not the state of a debate, so dates and gaps matter. Note when each document was written and check whether a newer source on the active site supersedes it. If you need a wider frame for the same questions, official institutional sources such as the Bank for International Settlements publish current research on monetary systems, and the International Monetary Fund covers currency and payment-system policy. Compare those with the archive's reform-oriented tradition rather than reading either in isolation.
What case studies are provided to illustrate alternative currency systems and economic democracy in practice?
The case studies on Reinventing Money are a starting point rather than a complete archive: the site groups them under a "Case Studies" section alongside a larger library of historical documents. From the page evidence, they are presented as examples that support the site's wider mission of documenting monetary freedom, economic democracy and self-determination. The collection is aimed mainly at monetary researchers and historians, so expect primary or near-primary material rather than short blog-style summaries.
A practical way to use them is to compare the cases against the "Four Law Drafts" and the interwar free-money school the site highlights, including Heinrich Rittershausen, Ulrich von Beckerath, Edgard Milhaud, Walter Zander and Walter Unger. That lets you see how proposals for alternative currency and exchange were meant to work in practice, and what political and economic conditions they assumed. For current practitioner examples, the site points readers to Beyond Money, which it describes as its active site for regular posts and interviews.
If you are deciding whether to dig in, use this test: go to the Case Studies section first, pick one case that matches your region or period, and check whether it includes enough detail on issuance, backing, governance and outcomes to answer your question. If it does not, treat it as a pointer to the Library files rather than a standalone study.
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