Survey confirms: People have no idea about how money is created

Interesting news from our sister organisation MoMo in Switzerland: The survey results from a master’s thesis from the Institute of Finance and Banking at Zurich University confirm that Swiss people have no idea about how Swiss Francs are created. Here are the results and the main reactions from the press:

A survey has been carried out as part of a master’s thesis at the University of Zurich about the level of knowledge in the general population about the financial system. The results are astonishing:

- Only 13 percent know that private commercial banks provide the majority of the money in circulation. 

- However, 78 percent of the Swiss population would like money to be produced and distributed solely by a public organisation working for the common good, such as the National Bank. 

- Only 4 percent preferred the system we actually have today – that money is mostly created by private, for-profit companies such as commercial banks.

The survey results reinforce the Vollgeld Initiative, which currently has more than90,000 signatures of the 100,000 required to force a binding national referendum in Switzerland.

The study shows clearly that the Swiss people do not know who actually creates the Swiss Franc: Only 13 percent of the population are aware that, in the current system, private banks produce the majority of the money through the extension of loans. 73 percent mistakenly believe money is created by the state or by the Swiss National Bank .... http://positivemoney.org