Those who spend time studying money, banking and central banking, have some understanding of how control over money actually it works. We build a coherent and causal model of what action leads to what effect. All in our mind, because it’s hard to run such experiments on a larger scale. This week, aside from theories, I learned how it feels, when it’s you who has that level of sway.   A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a short video, where a young woman was describing how her childhood looked like from the perspective of duties, chores, work and reward, etc. She said kids in the household had certain duties, but everything else was paid for in poker chips which could later be used to buy computer time. It seemed an interesting idea to try in my family.   I am a monster. By normie standards. My kids didn’t have phones until they were 13, computers they access have parental controls. At the same time, I am getting my kids to help around the house. Effectiveness varies, but I want to teach them responsibility. At the same time, I want them to understand rewards come from doing the work, and that the fruits of our labor should be managed carefully.   Enter The Experiment. Here’s what Introduced to my family:  

1. Holy trinity is holy – trash, dishwasher, laundry. Ok, and the bathroom. These shalt be for the children to own.
2. Everything extra is paid for in these blue poker chips
3. One chip is 1 hour of screen time   Examples of extras:
4. Errands to the handle my packages – InPost – IYKYK
5. Extracurricular classes: English, math, drawing, piano
6. Activities: extra math, playing chess with me, playing chess with each other. (1 for the game, 2 for winning)
7. Whatever mom needs
8. All other errands and expediencies   Sounds like a good start, right? Little did I know, I introduced a money printer. Here’s what really happens. I have a safety box with chips. To us they are the unforgeable costliness. Kids earn chips and use them to pay for screen time. They haven’t traded chips between each other yet, but I’m sure they’ll discover MoE soon. I take the chips in and … here’s where it dawned on me: I announce what the extras are. I define what work gives money. I define what’s rewardable work. By controlling where the chips flow, I control what activities are performed in my home economy. I became the master of coin. Or the poker chip. And I cannot say it didn’t give me pleasure.   I also observed high time preference emerging and an attempt to go into debt:

• dad, can I get 1 hour? I’ll pay you after I get the chip after my classes
• honey, they won’t give me groceries if I tell them I’ll pay them later   Like I said, I am a monster…   We have this idea of what it is like to do central banking. Like “windows guidance” done by the Bank of Japan, as described in “Princess of the Yen” (They controlled which parts of the economy got the loans each month). But what it feels like is not something I really understood. Until I tried the poker chip economy at home.   Now, dear reader, you can roast me.