In the book Public Money: The Systems Solution to End National Debt, Banking Crisis, Built-In Inequality, Inflation and Control by CBDC, Kaoru Yamaguchi uses system dynamics modeling not only to explain the value of public money and the Chicago Plan, but also the power of extreme financial inequality in the form of owners’ equity. Both bankers issuing debt-based money and extreme owners’ equity in corporations, along with their hiring of financial managers whose fiduciary responsibility is to maximize financial returns, are tragic flaws in the design of our economy.

As many monetary reformers know, Kaoru, the lead author, used system dynamics theory to analyze the NEED Act of 2011-2012, the legislation upon which the American Monetary Reform Act of 2026 is based. Kaoru has presented at AMI conferences numerous times over the past 21 years, including a keynote presentation on this book in 2025. Yokei, his son, is a fintech scholar and practitioner with a Masters in System Dynamics. Full bios from the publisher’s website are included at the end of this news article.

Kaoru Yamaguchi will present at the 22nd Annual American Monetary Institute Conference on Friday, September 25th, at 5:50PM CT, by responding to questions about his book that will be posed in advance. To prepare for this conference session, the Alliance For Just Money (AFJM) and the American Monetary Institute (AMI) co-hosted a three-session study group on Kaoru and Yokei Yamaguchi’s 2024 book, Public Money. Steven Walsh and Mike Holden led the group through an overview and discussion of the Yamaguchis’ book.

While Public Money is a rigorous academic book that promotes system dynamics theory, it also offers a scholarly history of 20th-century monetary policy and economics, leading to the imperative change we need today.

The dates and times for the study group are:

• Saturday, August 22nd at 11AM CT
• Saturday, August 29th at 11AM CT
• Saturday, September 12th at 11AM CT

We met on August 22nd for our first session, which included a brief overview of the book and a summary of Part 1, “Evidence.” If you missed the first session, you can watch the recording here.

Our second session took place on August 29th, where we continued exploring the book together. We covered additional chapters and connected them with a story that gave us a more integrated perspective on monetary reform and the importance of advocating for a public money system. If you couldn’t attend the second session, you can watch the recording here.

The final session was held on September 12th, where we covered the Yamaguchis’ Solution for Public Money. We collected your questions and shared them with Kaoru Yamaguchi ahead of the AMI Conference. You can watch the recording here.

Depending on interest, there may be another 10-session book club in the fall or winter. If you are interested in participating, please email us so we can follow up with you later this year.

According to the book’s abstract:

“Public Money challenges the foundations of modern monetary systems and offers a bold alternative rooted in public control of currency issuance. The book traces the evolution of money—from interest‐free public money to debt‐based money—and demonstrates why the conventional theories, including neoclassical, Keynesian, and Modern Money Theory, have failed to resolve recurring economic maladies such as financial crises, mounting national debt, and widening inequality. Drawing on historical case studies such as the Great Depression and Japan’s Lost 30 Years, the authors utilize systems thinking, mathematical modeling, and causal loop analysis to elucidate systemic flaws inherent in the current monetary system, and offer an alternative to the dominant economic paradigm.

Organized into three parts, the book first introduces definitions and classifications of money, and reviews its historical transformation. It then critically deconstructs mainstream economic doctrines, demonstrating their inadequacies in addressing persistent challenges. Finally, the authors present innovative policy alternatives including a detailed transition roadmap to the public money system, innovative digital currencies called Electronic Public Money (EPM), and Uniform Tax System. It culminates in the visionary MuRatopia economy, a holistic model designed to restore democratic governance, foster sustainable growth, and harmonize Eastern and Western civilizations. Public Money is a timely call to reconsider the traditional debt-based economic policies and for charting a course toward a more equitable, resilient, and sustainable global economic future.”

The book flyer provides abstracts for each of the 15 chapters. While parts of this book are challenging to read and digest alone, doing so as part of a study group of fellow monetary reformers will lighten the load.

If you don’t yet have a copy of Public Money, you can purchase a discounted hardcover copy from AFJM or AMI for $57 (includes payment service fee and shipping anywhere in the US) via AFJM’s or AMI’s donation page. Indicate in the comment box that your payment is for the Public Money book and provide the address to which it should be mailed.

Or mail a check for $55 payable to AFJM* or AMI**; indicate Public Money in the memo line and provide the address to which we should mail the book. Get your copy now while our supplies last.

*Alliance For Just Money, PO Box 964, Bloomington, IL 61702-0964
**American Monetary Institute, 1860 Sherman Ave 4NE, Evanston, IL 60201-3758

An eBook version is currently on sale from the publisher for $13.99. Please note, however, that it is a PDF/A file that does not allow you to track comments or highlights.

Finally, here are the authors’ bios from the publisher’s webpage on Public Money:

Kaoru Yamaguchi has Ph.D. in Economics, University of California, Berkeley, 1985. He is currently the director at the Japan Futures Research Center and former professor at the Graduate School of Social Sciences University of Ankara, Turkey (2018–2022). He previously held academic posts at California State University, Hayward, University of San Francisco, University of Hawaii, Manoa, then in Japan at Osaka Sangyo University and Doshisha University (Business School) in Kyoto. He was a visiting scholar at Sloan School of Management, MIT (1998, 1999), Hawaii Futures Research Center, University of Hawaii (2001), Haas School of Business, University of California, Berkeley (2003), and Victoria Management School, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand (2009). He was invited to present MuRatopia Economy in China (1988), Russia (1998), etc., and to the System Dynamics Macroeconomic Workshop in Ankara (2015), then to join the Turkish TUBITAK project of developing a Turkish macroeconomic model (2017–2019).

Yokei Yamaguchi has M.Phil, M.Sci. in Erasmus Mundus Joint Masters in System Dynamics, 2017 (University of Bergen, Norway, University of Palermo, Italy, and Radboud University, the Netherlands). He has previously served as a director of the Institute of Money and Economic Systems at Soramitsu, a fintech company specialized in blockchain-based solutions and decentralized applications. He also has publications in a peer-reviewed journal and academic books. As a researcher at Japan Futures Research Center, he is currently leading the development of Accounting System Dynamics (ASD) macroeconomic models and Electronic Public Money (EPM) system proposed in this book.