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The great Capitol Hill babysitting crisis: How systems can fail when everyone acts selfishly
By David Akadjian
Finding babysitters can be a problem. One way to solve this is to find a bunch of other people with kids and trade services: I babysit for you when you go out, you babysit for me when I want to go out. Create an economy of babysitting. Get enough people involved and there will always be a baby sitter. Sounds like a great idea, right?
It could be. If it’s set up the right way.
In the 1970s, a group in Washington, D.C., set up a system like the above to make sure everyone always had access to a babysitter. Here’s what went wrong, what they learned, and why it serves as a lesson about our overall economy (with kudos to Paul Krugman, who first popularized this story in his brilliant book Peddling Prosperity).
The Capitol Hill Babysitting Cooperative decided to introduce a form of money called “scrip” to keep track of babysitting and make sure the system is fair. One scrip equaled 30 minutes of babysitting. Scrip was a form of self-regulating bookkeeping, a way to keep track of who had baby-sat and who hadn’t. Every hour of babysitting would require a transfer of two pieces of scrip from a couple to the babysitter.
It could be. If it’s set up the right way.
In the 1970s, a group in Washington, D.C., set up a system like the above to make sure everyone always had access to a babysitter. Here’s what went wrong, what they learned, and why it serves as a lesson about our overall economy (with kudos to Paul Krugman, who first popularized this story in his brilliant book Peddling Prosperity).
The Capitol Hill Babysitting Cooperative decided to introduce a form of money called “scrip” to keep track of babysitting and make sure the system is fair. One scrip equaled 30 minutes of babysitting. Scrip was a form of self-regulating bookkeeping, a way to keep track of who had baby-sat and who hadn’t. Every hour of babysitting would require a transfer of two pieces of scrip from a couple to the babysitter.
Snip
http://www.dailykos.com/stories/2016/3/27/1505636/-The-great-Capitol-Hill-babysitting-crisis-How-systems-can-fail-when-everyone-acts-selfishly
