I created this site to pursue the goal of changing the way we think about economics.  I feel that all economic activity should be, pure and simple, acts of giving and receiving love.  My ideas have three sources of inspiration.

First, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of the goal of creating a “Beloved Community.”  His term inspired the name of this site.

Second, Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel authored a plan for an economy which I feel would go a long way toward making King’s dream a reality.  They called it “Participatory Economics” or “Parecon,” for short.  One of Albert’s books, subtitled “Life After Capitalism,” outlined radically different institutions for a hypothetical future world.

Finally, Paul Glover started a very successful alternative economy, based on a local currency called “Ithaca Hours.” In the first 10 years in operation, the equivalent of more than a million dollars (100 thousand Ithaca Hours) exchanged hands. A local credit union (Alternatives Federal Credit Union) made sizable loans in Ithaca Hours.  Glover’s economy did not replace capitalism.  Instead, it worked within the mainstream economy, remaining capitalistic—but localized to Ithaca, New York, and consisting of just small businesses and individuals.

If Glover could make a successful alternative economy based on capitalism, why can’t we make an alternative economy based on Parecon?  Like Ithaca Hours, our alternative economy will operate within the larger capitalist economy.  It won’t replace capitalism but it may change the way we think about economics.  Indeed, even communicating this dream, and thinking and talking through the steps needed to achieve it, will pursue this goal.  This idea begat BelovedEconomics.Org.

I attempt to convey my ideas with two pages on this site. The first page presents the main ideas of Parecon , which I consider prerequisite to understanding my own ideas. The second page presents the main ideas of my Plan for Beloved Economics.