Time banking is a concept trademarked by American lawyer, Edgar Cahn, who advocates for using the system to supplement government social services. In essence, it is a bartering system that allows people to exchange services in exchange for time credits rather than money. To better describe the concept, Cahn has offered the example of a time banker who needs spinal surgery. After surgery, another person interested in banking time would step in to help the outpatient with tasks like eating breakfast and brushing her hair and teeth. With time banking, every hour of labor carries the same value, regardless of who contributed their time. Cahn has created 1,000 time banks around the world most of which operate on his nonprofit software platform, TimeBanks USA. The idea to create TimeBanks came from three discoveries made by Cahn. First, he found that the economy does not value contributions fairly. For example, mothers who care for their children are not paid for the tremendous work involved in child rearing. He also found that the economy values scarce things but wanted to create a system that valued all human beings equally. Finally, his discovery of co-production, the idea that better results are often achieved through cooperation.
