On 11/5/07, William Pietri <william(a)scissor.com> wrote:
Ah, but unfortunately [[WP:CASH]] is a redirect to the "California
State Highways" project (snort).
Given the small number of actual transactions, it
looks like it was
never very popular. It's interesting to me that even this wasn't a
top-down approach, unlike a lot of more common reward systems. But it
does have another characteristic that the "Punished by Rewards" author
warns against, which is using rewards to manipulate others for your own
ends.
Selected concerns regarding a pseudo-economic or "monopoly-money"[1] system:
Origin -- Where does it all come from? Who gets to be the banker? Do
you collect anything for passing "Go" (or by creating new accounts)?
Utility -- What could it be redeemed for? What would be worth spending
it on? Would it draw interest[2]? What about "get out of jail free"
cards?
Inflation -- Would there be a finite amount, or would it be printed at
will like the U.S. Mint does? If it ever is "worth something" would it
become less so, when more of it exists?
[1] MONOPOLY(R) is a registered trademark of Hasbro, Inc.
[2] Of course I meant monetary interest, as in money awarded for
already having a lot of money, but psychological interest might also
be worth considering -- questions like whether this actually make
people more likely to contribute, or whether the wacky logistics of a
system like this, particularly if enough people took it seriously,
would cause others to quit in disgust.
Food for thought, bring your own fork (vague pun intended, maybe).
—C.W.