Depression Scrip

About Depression Scrip

Local emergency currency issued during the Great Depression when banks failed and money became scarce. Hundreds of American towns and organizations issued scrip. The most famous was the Worgl stamp scrip in Austria, which charged a monthly fee to hold the currency, encouraging rapid spending. Depression scrip demonstrated that communities could create local money when national currency was scarce. Most scrip was declared illegal by national governments threatened by alternative monetary systems.