Editing Time-based currency (section)

==Criticisms==

Some criticisms of timebanking have focused on the time credit's inadequacies as a form of currency and as a [[Price signal|market information mechanism]]{{explain|date=November 2018}}. Frank Fisher of MIT predicted in the 1980s that such a currency "would lead to the kind of distortion of market forces which had crippled [[Planned Economy|Russia's economy]]."<ref>{{harvp|Cahn|2004|p=6}}</ref>

Dr. Gill Seyfang's study of the Gorbals TimeBank—one of the few studies of timebanking done by the academic community—listed several other non-theoretical problems with timebanking. The first is the difficulty of communicating to potential members exactly what makes timebanking different, or "getting people to understand the difference between timebanking and traditional volunteering."<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69">{{harvp|Seyfang|2004|p=69}}</ref> She also notes that there is no guarantee that every person's needs will be provided for by a timebank by dint of the fact that the supply of certain skills may be lacking in a community.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69"/>

One of the most stringent criticisms of timebanking is its organizational sustainability. While some member-run TimeBanks with relatively low overhead costs do exist,<ref name=autogenerated4 /> others pay a staff to keep the organization running. This can be quite expensive for smaller organizations and without a long-term source of funding, they may fold.<ref name="Seyfang_2004_69"/><ref>[http://timebank.org.nz/node/97 Sustainability – The Business of Timebanking..] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160809054630/http://timebank.org.nz/node/97 |date=2016-08-09 }} Time Bank Aotearoa New Zealand, Accessed July 23, 2012.</ref>