The Cincinnati Time Store (1827–1830) was the first in a series of retail stores created by Americanindividualist anarchistJosiah Warren to test his economic labor theory of value.[1] The experimental store operated from May 18, 1827, until May 1830.[2][3] He sold things at-cost plus a small markup for his time.[4] It is usually considered to be the first time alternative currency labor notes were used,[5] and as such the first experiment in what would later be called mutualism.[6] He also founded stores in New Harmony, Indiana, and at Modern Times, Long Island.[7] The store in Cincinnati closed in 1830 with Warren being satisfied he demonstrated running and managing a business without the "erection of any power over the individual".[8] His theory — replacing money with time — was turned into an actual practical demonstration project.[9] It was the first such activity, preceding similar labor notes in Europe by more than 20 years, and still has implications for other concepts of currency such as cryptocurrencies. Nonetheless, at the time it was the most popular mercantile institution in Cincinnati.[10]
^Tyler, A.F. (1953). "Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America, 1827-1908 by James J. Martin and Harry Elmer Barnes". Indiana Magazine of History: 2.
^Cánovas, Cristóbal Pagán; Teuscher, Ursina (January 2012). "Much more than money: Conceptual integration and the materialization of time in Michael Ende's Momo and the social sciences". Pragmatics & Cognition. 20 (3). John Benjamins Publishing Company: 546–569. doi:10.1075/pc.20.3.05pag. ISSN0929-0907. E-. This makes time be money in a very different way: money has been replaced by time. One of the earliest practical applications of this blend was the Cincinnati Time Store.