In the face of systemic crises, can economic resilience be programmed? Smart currencies and bio-inspired models.
The simultaneous transformations of the global economy — unprecedented public debt, geopolitical tensions, climate change, the acceleration of artificial intelligence, the energy transition and the weakening of international cooperation — suggest that the next crisis could be more systemic than previous ones.
Rather than focusing solely on analysing its risks, this series of 4 in-depth articles proposes exploring how to build a more robust and resilient economy: understanding the laws of complex systems, designing bio-inspired economic architectures, imagining currencies capable of encouraging regulatory behaviours, and developing mission-driven businesses whose growth directly contributes to addressing the major challenges of the 21st century.
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By Thomas EGLI, Founder of the Geneva Forum, August 2026
- Article 1/4: Next financial crisis: Preparing better by approaching the 21st-century economy through the major laws of complex systems
- Article 2/4: In the face of crises, building an economy that lasts: Impact business models, smart currencies and bio-inspired financial architectures.
- Article 3/4: In the face of systemic crises, can economic resilience be programmed? Smart currencies and bio-inspired models.
- Article 4/4: Why mission-driven businesses can become the most robust companies in the face of systemic risks.
In the face of systemic crises, can economic resilience be programmed? Smart currencies and bio-inspired models.
Money is generally presented as a simple instrument of measurement and exchange. It makes it possible to set a price, facilitate a transaction and preserve part of the value created over time.
This representation is useful, but it conceals a deeper reality.
Every currency influences the behaviour of the actors who use it. It guides investment decisions, alters consumption patterns, encourages certain exchanges, discourages others, rewards certain economic strategies and penalises others.
In other words, a currency never merely accompanies an economy. It actively contributes to shaping it.
As crises become more systemic and the need for ecological, social and technological transitions intensifies, a new question emerges.
Can money become an instrument of resilience, capable of strengthening economic stability rather than amplifying some of its vulnerabilities?
View the Call for Contributions What kind of smart currency for sustainable development? and the programme of the annual international conferences Ethical Currencies and Economic Models and Impact Finance - Philanthropy, Investment and Blended Finance.
I. Money is never neutral
Economic history shows that every monetary system produces effects that extend far beyond the simple function of exchange.
Easy access to credit encourages investment but can also promote excessive debt.
Persistently low interest rates stimulate economic activity while sometimes encouraging the formation of speculative bubbles.
The speed of international transactions facilitates global trade but also accelerates the spread of financial crises.
A currency is therefore never a neutral object.
It defines rules and creates incentives.
It influences the daily decisions of households, companies, investors and public institutions.
These effects are generally indirect, but they become decisive when several million actors react simultaneously to the same economic signals.
II. Money as a behavioural protocol
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