6 Multicultural Money Lessons Worth Learning

"Customs may seem odd to outsiders but they're rife with meaning that can whisper valuable lessons to those who are willing to listen," Matt Alderton over at CreditCardGuide explains. "That's especially true of financial customs, according to cultural anthropologist Dr. Bill Maurer, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, and director of the Institute for Money, Technology and Financial Inclusion....."

Matt Alderton/ CreditCardGuide

"3. African culture
In Africa, money isn't the only “money.” “When you and I think of money, we think of cash and coin, or funds available in an electronic account,” Maurer says. “But in many places around the world, like rural Kenya, people add into the mix other things like animals, access to land or even kinship relationships … Lots of things can perform the stored-value function of money....”

Read on for the other 5 cultural meanings and lessons on money from around the world. 

It's all in the wrist!

The imprinter gestural system, otherwise known as "the swipe" in payment transactions, is on its way out according to our Director, Bill Maurer. Check out the featured article over at Visa's tumblr.

"Anyone remember the knuckle-buster or zip-zap machines as they were called? Those old credit card imprinters made by companies like Farrington Manufacturing (now defunct) and Addressograph (still in business and making military dog tags). If you were a merchant, you used it like this: you placed a sales slip, made with carbon paper, into the device along with your customer’s credit card. The device had an embossed metal plate containing your business’s account and address information. With a right-left swipe of the handle, it would mark all of the information needed to initiate and verify a transaction...."

10 barriers to boosting inclusive growth - Bill Maurer in conversation on The Guardian

On 26 Feb, IMTFI Director Bill Maurer livechatted on a panel, "Can mobile technology be a catalyst for inclusive growth?"(scroll down for full text of chat) with other mobile money experts in a Guardian series on Inclusive Growth, which is supported by MasterCard.

The idea of the chat which involved members from Policy Exchange, CGAP, TechChange, the Better than Cash Alliance, and other organizations, was to understand how mobile technology can help fight inequality and boost inclusive growth.

Here is a roundup of the "10 barriers to using mobile technology to fight inequality" to whet your appetite for more:

1. Phone charging 
2. Lack of personal ID 
3. Literacy and language
4. Lack of partnerships
5. Focus on technology not people
6. Gender inequality
7. Misunderstanding local need
8. Lack of digital skills
9. Complex regulatory frameworks
10. Poorer communities have been ignored 

Bitcoin in Africa with Bill Maurer

A 3D printed Bitcoin.
Photo credit: Don Patterson

Ahead of his online summer session course "Barter to Bitcoin," Bill Maurer, social sciences dean and anthropology and law professor, has been featured in a podcast on The Bitcoin Lawyer April 27, 2014.

Dr. Bill Maurer, Director of the Institute for Money, Technology, and Financial Inclusion at UC Irvine, talks about his work on mobile currencies in developing countries in Africa and how Bitcoin can allow people in those countries to transfer money without access to traditional banking institutions.

Listen to the full podcast.