CREDITARY ECONOMICS
Is defined as:
Creditary (adjective). That comprehension or interpretation of economics which is based on the entire spectrum of credit, not just on money. (QV ‘monetary economics’).

The above definition was supplied to the Oxford English Dictionary on Thursday 19 November 1998 by the originator of the word "Creditary", Christopher Meakin, founder of the "Gang of Eight" international economics forum, see below.

The word was coined in 1994 with the above intended meaning and remains on file at the OED offices until its usage is adjudged wide enough to merit its being added to the Dictionary. The first-ever public use of the word was in a letter published in the Financial Times of London in June or July 1995.

Several years later, the word was introduced to the Gang of Eight economics forum by its founder after the 'Gang' was first established in September 1998. Not all of them fully understood the meaning or logical implications of the word, let alone the broader economic insights of which it was intended to be a part.

As is so often the case, the word was gradually adopted by people who had little or nothing to do with its originators in the Gang of Eight, so its primary and strictly economic meaning was diluted by others, often with their own political axe to grind. Almost inevitably, they ascribed meanings of their own.

Thus some years after the word had first been coined (in a telephone conversation between two of the eight founders of the 'Gang of Eight', Christopher Meakin of London, UK and Geoffrey Gardiner of Cheshire, UK), then introduced into the public domain a year later, then precisely defined for the benefit of the Oxford English Dictionary three years after that, various other broader or politicised 'definitions' of creditary have since been promoted, as follows:

Creditary economics is a broad and inclusive term for all theories of economics and political economy that drastically de-emphasize or deny
altogether a role for debt and assumptions of fixed yield for such financial capital instruments. These theories usually emphasize a role for local currency, especially in keeping a service economy functioning normally even during national or global depression.

In neoclassical economics, nation-states are presumed to control and
administer natural capital and human capital, and to grant credit
according to a money supply system that reflects anticipated yield of these in financial capital under globalization.

Creditary economics challenges these assumptions, especially that global market values reflect local value of life or global value of Earth.

Although the name emerged relatively recently and is associated to a degree with Henry C.K. Liu and others who refer to the G8 as "gang8", many predecessor theories and movements actually share these assumptions, while disagreeing on a great many elements of political economy:

Islamic economics which permits only joint venture investments

Ecological economics and its successor human development theory

Feminist economics and the more general Green economics which put a high premium both on nature's services to humanity and mother's services to children, neither of which has status in debt economics

An important point of consensus among these is that debt reflects power relations that are incompatible with creativity, conservation of either energy or materials, and the integrity of natural capital, social capital and individual capital.


The term post-autistic economics is sometimes used by advocates of deeper
monetary reform. This implies that debt economics is a form of autism. }

Defenders of debt relations often argue that such measures as bankruptcy, debt relief, debt forgiveness, bailouts and deflation of major currencies serve to relieve the problems associated with most debt relations - and that these can continue to be managed on a case-by-case basis. Detractors tend to respond that these are "band-aid measures" and that the continuing race to the bottom in environment, labour and social welfare services is due in the main to debt relations.


Furthermore, begging to bankers in foreign nations for "forgiveness" is seen by most nationalist as humiliating, particularly if odious debt incurred by some former dictator is involved. Many see this processing of granting credit and forgiving debt as a form of imperialism and racism, which keeps local economies in service to global militarism.


Marilyn Waring for instance contrasted the value placed on the service done to society by mothers hauling water, gathering firewood, and raising children, to that placed on military "work", which in many countries is engaged in guarding capital assets used to generate financial capital to pay off foreign debt. In effect, women's work was considered worthless as it did not directly generate hard currency or seem to provide any means of protection to capital assets that did. This is contrary to the long-term interests of the child, mother, or whole society, she argued. She accused the still-standard UN measures of national income of guaranteeing uneconomic growth. Some people joke that she may be the only individual on Earth who has actually read the UN standards, which run to an entire wall of documentation.

See also

Debt-free money

list of economics topics

list of finance topics

list of ethics topics