Forcing people to spend Economists have long wondered how to jump start an economy that won't respond to even very cheap borrowing costs. Forcing people to spend instead of saving their money was one of their ideas, but it wasn't practical until recently. And, even if it made sense on paper, it upended people's historic understanding of money. The first interest payment was recorded in ancient Babylon more than 4,000 years ago. Almost since people gave up bartering, money, in whatever form, has served at least two purposes: a medium of exchange but also a way to store up the fruits of their labor to buy something in the future