Silvio Gesell

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Silvio Gesell
Gesell in 1895
Born	(1862-03-17)17 March 1862 Sankt Vith, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	11 March 1930(1930-03-11) (aged 67) Oranienburg, Weimar Republic
Nationality	German
Notable work	The Natural Economic Order (1916)
Children	Carlos Idaho Gesell
Academic career
Field	Monetary theory, Interest, monetary and land reform
School or tradition	Freiwirtschaft Market socialism
Influences	Theodor Hertzka Henry George Pierre Joseph Proudhon
Contributions	Demurrage currency, Unearned income

Johann Silvio Gesell (German: [ɡəˈzɛl]; 17 March 1862 – 11 March 1930) was a German-Argentine economist, merchant, and the founder of Freiwirtschaft, an economic model for market socialism.^[1] In 1900 he founded the magazine Geld-und Bodenreform (Monetary and Land Reform), but it soon closed for financial reasons. During one of his stays in Argentina, where he lived in a vegetarian commune, Gesell started the magazine Der Physiokrat together with Georg Blumenthal. In 1914, it closed due to censorship.

The Bavarian Soviet Republic, in which he participated, had a violent end and Gesell was detained for several months on a charge of treason, but was acquitted by a Munich court after a speech he gave in his own defense.