Time-Based Measure Versus Monetary Accounting Features and Functions for Tackling Environmental Crises and reducing Debt

Abstract

The paper springs from a comparison of the pros and cons of accounting in monetary units and of measuring economic value in natural time units. I particularly consider both systems of accounting from the viewpoint of debit/credit relationships and long-term finance for public and care-of-commons economies. And I look at the reasons why we need more objective criteria – mainly linked to the basal conditions of life on the planet – for measuring economic value. The main theoretical references are research hypotheses outlined in Ruzzene (2015, 2018), where the use of natural time units was considered for reducing public debt and for interest-free financing of care-of-commons economies. I conclude by listing the various advantages that a natural time-based measure of economic value can offer, especially in forming long-term credit relationships in are-of-commons economies.