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I'm looking for the name and author of a short sci-fi history. I read the story years ago and I can’t remember the title of it.

This is a society with no concept of cash. Things are acquired when the “seller” owes a favor to the “buyer.” An individual accumulates favors when she performs a useful task for somebody else.

And thus one of the “wealthiest” people is a guy who repairs bicycles, as everybody uses them for transportation.

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    probably "And then there were none" by Frank Russel. Does the expression "Plant an ob" ring a bell?
    – user108131
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 9:59
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    @user108131 You are actually correct. That's what I was looking for, "obs". Thank you.
    – user169389
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 10:12
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    I remember a rediscovered planet, and the natives kept taking things and saying "myob" when they did it, and the modern spaceship people didn't understand it meant "my obligation" and was their currency. It was a short story from the 70s? Maybe in a Best Shorts or some award winners collection.
    – Engineer
    Commented Nov 16, 2023 at 19:10
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    @Engineer: In the interest of avoiding spoilers I won't state what it was short for, but "MYOB" was NOT short for "my obligation".
    – GreenMatt
    Commented Nov 17, 2023 at 19:45
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    It is the third scene on the book "The Great Explosion". You can loan it at the Internet Library in 1 hour instalments (after free registration) when I am done with it. :-) archive.org/details/greatexplosion0000russ
    – KalleMP
    Commented Nov 18, 2023 at 17:27

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This is "and then there were none" by Frank Russell. You can read it online here. The favors are called "obs" (as in obligations) and are used as an anarchy type economy. Skimming over the story, someone is offered a lucrative (in terms of obs) motor-bike sales job, based on his existing bicycle.

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While probably not the answer, as it is likely too recent (only 10 years for the first book), and the favor system is only a side-story, you'd likely remember a lot of other things before that one.

In "long earth" serie of books, at some point, a parallel society starts to depend on favors (the term is used explicitly) as a currency, due to the lack of central banking system to back up fiduciary money.

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Could this be Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom by Cory Doctorow. This was published in 2003, so 20 years ago. It is 208 pages long, so a short novel.

The story is set in the Magic Kingdom, AKA Walt Disney World. No money exists in the story, all is paid for by "Whuffie", which is basically good-will or happiness that people give to others in return for their service/work/entertainment/goods.

The story is told by Julius, who works at his childhood-dream job of Disney world which is run by teams of people competing to provide the best experience for the visitors. Julius wishes to die, but has low Whuffie and doesn't want to die in that state. People are able to regenerate/revive after they die and there is a complicated plot involving murder that allows a rival team to take over one of the Disney exhibits so that they can revamp it (and thereby generate lots of whuffie for themselves), which Julius exposes and somehow results in him going a bit "off the deep end".

It's been many years since I read it, so my summary may be a little mixed, but it was a decent story.

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    I would argue it doesn't match, because "whuffie" is more reputation coin than favour trading - you can't bank whuffie, as the protagonist finds out to his chagrin. Plus you can't just do a favour for someone to get a favour back; if they simply decide they don't like/respect you, you wasted your time. (One of the reasons I don't like the book is that I can't quite convince myself that Doctorow intends it to be read as dystopian.)
    – DavidW
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 21:28
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    @DavidW Yeah, I agree no "You scratch my back..." and no banking of whuffie. Also agree on your assessment of Doctorow, which I have found holds true in the few works that I have read. Merely OK stories, some interesting concepts, but can't guess Doctorow's position on them from the story.
    – bob1
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 21:49
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    Ha, this came to mind for me too. It was certainly an innovative story!
    – Highly Irregular
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 22:50

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