How is time banking different from bartering?
In bartering, two people directly negotiate an exchange of specific goods or services. For example, “I fix your bike if you cook me a meal.” The value of what is exchanged is negotiated in the moment and depends on what each person believes the other’s offer is worth. The unit of exchange is perceived value, and the goal is usually equivalence between the two sides of a single transaction.
In a time bank, everything is measured in the same unit: time. One hour of anyone’s time equals one hour. You give time to one person and earn a time credit that can be used later with someone else in the network.
The main differences are:
The unit of value: We're bartering is based on perceived value, there is no negotiation in time banking over how much a person’s hour is worth.
Space for collective exchange: Bartering is typically one-to-one and transaction-based, while time banking is network-based and relationship-based. You are not trying to find an equal swap with a specific person.
Time banking is designed to let care circulate beyond individual exchanges and to treat different kinds of help as equally valuable, rather than in market price or perceived worth.
