No Money

Did you know that there was a country without currency not so long ago? A place where money was abolished? A country without banks? Hard to image but true. Under the power of the Khmer Rouge for some five years Cambodia was a country without money. From 1975 till 1980 money did not exist. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, abolished money, markets, and private property, blowing up the Central Bank to underscore his point. Apparently, not only was there no money, but as there was no property, there was also no trade. Even for extremists this is extreme. This insane regime has brought a lot of suffering and certainly nobody will look at this as a role model. Still I found it interesting that there was one (very flawed and failed) attempt to eliminate money in modern history. A sad historical curiosity. Here is an article looking at the economic, political aspects of being without money in this historic context: The Riel Value of Money.